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R. C. BARROW. 



E. C. BAEEOW: 



His Life and Woek. 



BY HIS SON FRANK. 



DEDICATED TO HIS CHILDREN IN THE GOSPEL. 



» O <)-')© , , 3 



LINCOLN, NEB.: 

STATE JOURNAL COMPANY, PKINTEBS. 
1892. 



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All Rights Resebved by Fba^tk H. Babbow» 



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■ • 



PEEFAOE. 



Since my father's death I have been asked many 
times why I did not write a history of his life and 
labors. It is only after considerable persuasion that 
I have undertaken the work. I do so, realizing that 
I am unable to do justice to the noble subject, and 
that my humble efforts to bring out his life will come 
far short of what they, in justice to the one that 
sleeps, should. 

Yet, if they who read these lines find something 
portrayed that will lead them to higher thoughts; if 
the memories of those who knew and loved him shall 
be quickened and made to reflect upon his life and 
labors; if some poor wanderer from the fold of 
Christ shall read of his early life and of his work in 
after years and be persuaded to attempt an imitation 
of that life ; or if it shall be instrumental in bring- 
ing one soul to Christ, I shall praise my Maker for 
having given me the strength to present this volume 
to the world. 

I have followed my own ideas in arranging this 
work. My father's life was one continual round of 
sameness. His whole life was spent at one work, in 
one place, and a minute detail of the work of each 



VI PREFACE. 

year would be a useless repetition. I have tried to 
bring out that which would be of benefit to the 
reader. I am aware that I have made many mis- 
takes, and expect criticism. My only wish is that 
it shall fulfill its mission. 

The Author. 



OOJSITENTS. 



PART I. 

PAGE 

Early Life, ..... . 1 

PART II. 
WoEK IN Nebraska, ..... 7 

PART III. 
Last Illness and Death, . . . .71 

PART IV. 
Memorial Service at Lincoln, ... 83 

PART V. 

Memorial Service at Tecumseh, . . . 97 



PAET I. 

EARLY DAYS. 



Robert Clark Barrow, third son of a family 
of five boys and five girls, was born in Andes, Dela- 
ware county, New York, August 18, 1832. His 
father, William Barrow, was a native of England 
His mother was a Miss Maxwell, born in Scotland. 

In 1838 the family settled in Union, Tioga county, 
Pennsylvania, where his father, being a carpenter, 
worked at his trade, and as Robert grew up he as- 
sisted his father — being almost entirely denied the 
privilege of a common school education. But this 
sort of life did not suit him. He had higher aspi- 
rations than to be able to saw a board or drive a nail 
He looked forward to the time when circumstances 
would enable him to go to school, that he might get 
a better insight to what few things had been taught 
him by his parents at home. His ambition led him 
to contemplate the day when he should become a 
great lawyer or merchant, and he longed for the op- 
portunity of attending school, in order to fit himself 
to attain such a position. 

But things continued as before. Robert still as- 
sisted his father until he reached the age of sixteen — 
an age when young men of to-day are almost through 

(1) 



Z R. C. BAEROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

college — when one day he saw a probable realization 
of all his dreams. His grandmother, of Delaware, 
New York, sent word that he could come and live 
with her and attend school, if he would do what 
work there was to be done about the house. He was 
not long in determining upon the matter, and after a 
family consultation it was decided that Robert should 
go. 

In the fall of 1848, with all his worldly posses- 
sions tied in a handkerchief, which was fastened on 
the end of a stout walking-stick and carried upon 
his shoulder, he left the little home in Union with 
mother^s kiss and father's '^God-speed," to go to 
grandma's to school. 

Arriving there, he commenced his studies at once. 
Here he remained for about three years, attending 
school and working through vacations to earn money 
for his clothing and books. These few years of 
school life were the only ones he ever spent under an 
instructor, and all of knowledge that he gained in 
after years was through hard study and earnest labor. 
At the time of his death he was a fair scholar both 
in Greek and Latin and had few superiors in the 
matter of history. 

Returning home lie commenced teaching school at 
Williamsport, Pa., where he taught quite successfully 
for several years. It was while thus engaged in this 
vicinity that he became engaged to Miss Cynthia 
Harding, and forming a strong attachment for one 
another they were engaged to be married. Shortly 



EAELY DAYS. 3 

before the time for their marriage Cynthia sickened, 
and after a severe illness died. Broken-hearted, with 
the sunshine taken from his life, all of his hopes of 
a happy future blasted, he knew not what to do. To 
forget his grief he wandered about with no particu- 
lar object in view but to keep from thinking. He 
went to Minnesota with an exploring party. Leav- 
ing them, he taught school there for some time. For 
several years he was with the Indians — often the only 
white man among them. He acquired considerable 
of their language, and before leaving was able to 
converse freely with them in their own tongue. 

Returning to his old home in Union, he again 
taught school, and in the latter part of 1855 was 
married, in Canton, Pa., by Elder Chas. McDougal, 
to Helen Harding, a sister to Cynthia. Soon after 
his marriage he went to Buffalo, N. Y., and secured 
a position as baggageman on the Erie road. He held 
this position two years, when his health failed. He 
resolved to return to Union, which he did. He pur- 
chased a piece of land and commenced farming and 
clearing off the timber. He and his wife were very 
poor and sometimes lived the winter through on 
nothing more than corn bread and squash. When 
on a visit in that locality several years ago he pointed 
out to me a twenty-acre field, from which he had cut 
the trees, hauled the logs, and pulled out the stumps 
— an undertaking that will be appreciated by any one 
having been in that country. To get the use of his 
neighbor's team one day he must work for him two 
days. 



4 R. C. BAREOW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Up to this time, he, by his conduct, had not given 
promise of anything out of the usual line of young 
men. He, like his associates on the railroad, had 
learned to drink, to smoke, to chew, and swear — had 
sowed his proportion of wild oats — and was what the 
world would call a ^^ lively'^ young man. 

His wife had been a constant attendant at the little 
chapel in Union, and upon their return to that 
place, he accompanied her to the services, out of re- 
spect, as he afterwards told. He had no particular 
views on religion, and was in no hurry to form any, 
but simply went to church out of respect to his wife. 
But her earnest, devoted Christian life, coupled with 
what he heard at the little chapel, soon set him to 
thinking. Elder McDougal, who had married him, 
commenced a series of meetings at a school house 
near them, and Robert became interested. He was a 
constant attendant, and at night, after coming home 
from the services, he would spend hours in reading 
the Bible to see if what the preacher said was so or 
not. 

This investigation, by one who had no theory to 
maintain, caused what it always will to a true heart. 
Thanks to an open Bible and an earnest presentation 
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, unfettered by creeds or 
human opinions, a change came over the life of Rob- 
ert Barrow that was to prove a blessing to many 
households and that was to be the means of carrying 
the light into many places where darkness and sin 
reigned supreme. Before the close of this meeting 



EARLY DAYS. 5 

he came forward and made the ^^good confession.'' 
So earnest was he that he spoke for some time, urg- 
ing his associates to leave off sowing "wild oats^' and 
accept the Saviour. 

The friends who had known the Robert of old, 
upon hearing of his having joined the church, pre- 
dicted his early downfall, and even among his friends 
grave doubts were quietly expressed upon the subject 
of his continuing faithful. But a Christian wife, a 
constant attendance at church, a careful study of the 
Bible, and a prayer to God every day, brought their 
benefits, and out of the darkness of sin, away from 
worldly pleasures, into the glorious liberty of God's 
eternal truth, came Robert Barrow — a changed man. 
His friends and acquaintances soon ceased their pre- 
dictions and doubtings. His straightforward Chris- 
tian life confronted them. His conduct gave rise to 
no uncertain opinions. 

His desire to give to his friends and neighbors the 
blessings he had received, led him to make earnest 
exhortations in the prayer meetings, and this is true of 
every Christian heart, that having received the bless- 
ings of the Christian life, it seeks earnestly to give 
it to others. From these talks came a desire to 
preach. His first sermon was preached in the little 
school house where he had first learned to know, love, 
and obey the Master whom he was destined ever af- 
terward to serve. From this time forward, every 
Lord's day was used by him in preaching in the dif- 
ferent school houses adjacent. 



b E. C. BAEROW : HIS LIFE AND WOEK. 

Desiriog to make this his life-work, he took charge 
of the churches at Granville and Le Roy, where he 
labored for over a year. 

Hearing of the boundless opportunities for doing 
good in the west, and the need of preachers, he came 
to Oregon, Holt county, Missouri, where he resided 
and preached for the church for some time. 



PAET II. 

WORK IN NEBRASKA. 



For an account of his earlier connection with the 

work in Nebraska, I have thought best to republish 

a series of articles written by himself nearly twenty 

years ago, for the Standard. While some of this 

does not strictly belong to a history of his work, yet 

he is so identified with the early establishment of the 

gospel in this state that I have thought best to give 

it in full rather than disfigure it by leaving out parts 

bearing no particular mention of himself. As we 

have no published account of the early work in this 

state, I am sure it will be appreciated by the majority 

of my readers. 

♦ 
In December, 1864, while living at Oregon, Mo., I 

made a flying visit to Nebraska, preaching three 

evenings at Omaha, and one Lord^s day at Platts- 

mouth. At Omaha I made the acquaintance of Bro. 

Hichard Brown, referred to in the previous sketch as 

the founder of Brownville, but then living in Omaha. 

Bro. Dr. Van Camp, Bro. Hunt, and a young Bro. 

Williams, who was then teaching, but is now quite 

well known as a preacher. I also learned that Al- 

vin Saunders, governor of the territory, was a mem- 

(7) 



8 E. C. BAEROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

ber of the church. At Plattgmouth, I, for the first 
time, met Bro. D. R. Dungan, whose Dame has been 
a household word in Nebraska for the last ten years. 
Though at that time but little known, he had ac- 
quired an excellent local reputation as an earnest and 
able preacher ; and theological opponents had learned 
to stand in wholesome dread of his exegetical and log- 
ical weapons. Associated with Chas. P. Evans and W. 
A. Denton, he had been preaching with but little en- 
couragement, and almost wholly without remunera- 
tion, at De Soto, Omaha, Rock Bluff, Plattsmouth, 
and other points in Cass and Douglas counties. He 
owned a small house in Plattsmouth, taught a school 
for a livelihood, and preached as opportunity offered. 
Mounted on a diminutive gray pony, blind of an 
eye, and clad in garments which, to say the least, 
Beau Brummel would hardly have coveted, he was 
far from being a Count D'Orsay in appearance, as 
he traveled in the region round about, preaching the 
ancient gospel. But he won, and has ever since re- 
tained, the love and confidence of the people, and is 
universally and justly regarded as the father, and 
master spirit of the reformation in Nebraska. In- 
vincible in debate, sincere and unselfish in his friend- 
ships, childlike in his confidence and trust in the 
word of God, with good social qualities, an inex- 
haustible fund of humor, and the happy faculty of 
adapting himself to every grade of intelligence, he 
possessed in a remarkable degree the qualifications 
demanded of a pioneer preacher. 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 9 

During my stay in Plattsmouth the weather sud- 
denly turned intensely cold. The Missouri river was 
filled with floating ice, and all the ferries stopped 
running. Finding myself unable to cross the river 
and return home as I had intended, I decided to ride 
down the west bank of the river into Kansas, oppo- 
site my home in Missouri, and hold a meeting near 
Highland until I should be able to cross, either by 
the ice bridge or the ferry-boat. I traveled on horse- 
back, and Bro. Dungan, mounted on the one-eyed 
pony, accompanied me to the house of Bro. William 
Hobbs, seven miles south of Plattsmouth. And 
while speaking of ponies, I desire to make it a matter 
of record that Brother Dungan is not an infallible 
judge of horse flesh, and while I entertain the most 
profound respect for his views in relation to almost 
every other subject, I hold his equine opinions in 
utter contempt ! Some years since I was the unfort- 
unate owner of a nearly worthless gray pony, appa- 
rently a lineal descendant and certainly a formidable 
rival of the famous steed furnished by Cervantes to 
his mock hero, Don Quixote. No amount of feeding 
would clothe his unsightly bones with a respectable 
covering of flesh. His gait continually reminded 
me of an old-fashioned flax and hemp breaker, and 
his "gangling^' limbs seemed in constant danger of 
tying themselves up into knots! I often thought 
that pony ought to be a good swimmer — he was so 
little use in land service — and the peculiar swimming 
motion of his limbs seemed so well adapted to aquatic 
2 



10 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

locomotion. I tried him as a swimmer and found 
him a total failure. Finding myself one evening on 
the wrong side of the big Nemaha river, fifteen miles 
from a bridge, I released my feet from the stirru[)S 
and hopefully forced the reluctant beast into the 
river, which was at that time very high, at least ten 
feet above low water mark. As soon as the " bottom 
fell out^^ he began to letdown his hind feet in search 
of it, assuming a nearly upright position, his fore feet 
beating the water like the paddle wheels of a light 
draught steamboat. I was compelled to abandon my 
seat and swim to shore, avoiding the dangerous blows 
of those awkward feet, and holding on by the halter 
strap to aid the struggling beast in keeping his nose 
above the waters ! I sold that pony for a note^ and 
he was afterwards purchased by Bro. Dungau, who 
rechristened him ^' Caesar/^ and, to my intense dis- 
gust, always claimed for him both speed and bottom ! 
Had the mighty Roman been permitted to know that 
in the ages to come his great name would be thus 
prostituted, it might have saved Brutus and his 
friends from the commission of the great crime, for 
Caesar would, in all probability, have committed sui- 
cide before the " Ides of March '^ ! (Revenge is 
sweet, Bro. D.) At Nebraska City, where I spent the 
first night after leaving Plattsmouth, I was -liospita- 
bly and pleasantly entertained by E. M. Lewis, a 
Qongregational minister, an old acquaintance from 
Michigan. I learned upon inquiry that there were 
a number of Disciples in the city, but no organiza- 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 11 

tion. On the following day I pursued my course 
down the river, passing through Peru, Brownville, 
and Nemaha City, and arrived at Rulo, where I in- 
tended to pass the night, about sunset. Accosting a 
respectable-looking citizen, I asked him if there were 
any Christians in the place. '^Oh, yes," he answered, 
*^ there are some Roman Catholics, a few Methodists, 
and — " " But these," I interrupted, *' are not the kind 
of Christians I mean. Are there none here who are 
called Christians and nothing else?" "I think not, 
stranger ; I have never heard of any such people here 
or anyw^here else?" I was growing desperate. 
" My friend," said I, " did you ever hear of a Camp- 
bellite?" " Yes, I have" — a long pause and critical 
examination of the querist, evidently made to deter- 
mine the genus to which he belonged — " but never to 
my knowlege saw one of the animals in my life ! " I 
made my way to the only hotel in the place, and find- 
ing it crowded with boisterous, drunken, quarrelsome 
men, I decided to go on to Highland, in Doniphan 
county, Kansas, some fifteen miles distant. It was 
fully dark when I crossed the Nemaha, four miles 
south of Rulo, and entered upon the reservations of 
the Iowa Indians. The dreary winter night closed 
in around me, the icy wind seemed to penetrate to 
the very marrow of my bones, and I was soon hope- 
lessly lost. I met and questioned several Indians, 
but they either would not or could not speak a word 
of English, and I spent fully half the night following 
tortuous paths through dense thickets, climbing the 



12 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

steep bluffs along the Missouri river and descending 
into the unknown depths of dark ravines. Some 
time after midnight I came upon quite a large Indian 
camp in the bottom of a deep, heavily timbered ra- 
vine. By the light of the smoklering camp fire I 
was able to distinguish about a dozen wigwams, the 
occupants evidently all sound asleep. Riding into 
the center of the circle of wigwams, I gave the best 
possible imitation, under the circumstances, of an 
Indian war whoop. Instantly the buffalo skin door^s 
were lifted, and dusky heads protruded on every 
side. " Can any one here speak English ? ^^ I asked, 
as the motley throng of Indians, squaws, and pap- 
pooses gathered wonderingly about ray horse. Af- 
ter a moment of silence an apparently reluctant 
voice answered: '^Yes, me speak him.'^ I had by 
this time abandoned the idea of trying to reach 
Highland that night, and knowing that I could 
not be far from White Cloud, I asked the English 
speaking savage if he could direct me to that town. 
"Me show him,'^ said Lo, and he walked by the skle 
of my horse a long distance, leaving me in a plain » 
easily followed road, and within an hour I was upon 
the bluffs west of White Cloud, looking down upon 
the sleeping village. I was now in a region of 
country with which I was well acquainted; and as 
the clouds were breaking away and the air seemed 
warmer, I resumed my intention of going on to 
Highland, and my jaded beast brought me to the 
hospitable home of Bro. Samuel Plotner, near that 



WOEK IN NEBRASKA. 13 

place, in time for an early breakfast and a morning 
nap. 

In the fall of 1864 Bro. J. F. Berry, of Illinois, 
was employed by the American Christian Missionary 
Society to labor in Nebraska. He came to Platts- 
mouth, but was not favorably impressed with the field 
and returned to Illinois. A few weeks later Bro. 
Dungan was notified of the willingness of the society 
to sustain him as a missionary in the territory at a 
salary of $500 per annum, payable quarterly, with the 
privilege of collecting $300 in the field — if he could. 
This was joyful intelligence. He had seen the church 
sj)ires of the denominations built with eastern money, 
rising on every side, their missionaries keeping pace 
with the advancing tide of emigration, and though his 
spirit was stirred within him, and his heart burning 
with zeal, his hands were tied by the strong cords of 
poverty; and while struggling against desperate odds, 
he had often gazed longingly across the great river 
from whence came the sinews of war to other relig- 
ious bodies. Here, in the letter of Bro. O. A. Bur- 
gess, then corresponding secretary of the general so- 
ciety, was the answer to many an earnest prayer: 
here w^as the raven bringing bread. Could Bro. 
Burgess have known the overwhelming joy his letter 
brought to a long suffering brother in distant Ne- 
braska, he would have wept in sympathy, as its re- 
cipient wept and trembled and prayed over the hast- 
ily written page. Had the modern scribes who write 
so glibly and flippantly against '^ plans" been per- 



14 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

mitted to look within the little home at Plattsmouth 
that dreary winter night over ten years ago, they 
would have seen a Christian husband and wife bowed 
down before God, and with voices stifled with sobs, 
thanking him for a "plan" that would give them 
bread while they labored in the vineyard of the Lord. 
A few weeks later the society consented to sustain a 
second missionary in Nebraska, leaving the brethren 
in the territory to select an acceptable person, and the 
lot falling upon me, I entered upon the work on the 
first day of July, 1865. My first protracted meeting 
was held in Nemaha City, and resulted in twenty-one 
additions. Bro. T. K. Hansberry, who was then 
living at Salem, had preached there occasionally, and 
several had been baptized. Though the town was 
almost a Sodom of wickedness, I found a number of 
noble brethren there, the most of whom are still liv- 
ing. Father A. D. Skeen, Brethren Knight, Drain, 
and Argabright, and their Christian families, all still 
with us, were among those who first welcomed me to 
ray new field of labor. While the meeting at Ne- 
maha City was in progress. Brother Dungan entered 
upon a work in Nebraska City. At that time the 
population of Nebraska City was largely made up of 
refugees from war-cursed Missouri, and many had 
left their religion, with all their household goods and 
gods, behind them in their hurried flight from danger. 
Cut off from the hallowed associations of home, with 
hearts embittered by the recollection of recent wrong, 
outrage, and financial ruin, and hurling revengeful 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 15 

curses backward across the great river upon the west- 
ern border of which they had built a city of refuge, 
they offered but little encouragement to the mission- 
ary of the cross. The meeting was held in an old 
yellow school building near the Cincinnati hotel, and 
just north of the Old School Presbyterian church, 
and was continued about four weeks. I came to the 
meeting towards the close, and witnessed the baptism 
of a daughter of Sister Palmer, and the reception of 
quite a large number of brethren by the little band 
of Disciples who had associated themselves together 
for the furtherance of the interest of Messiah^s King- 
dom. Some time previous to the meeting, Bro. C. P. 
Evans, of Iowa, had visited Nebraska City and spent 
some time in preaching and canvassing the city for a 
list of names of former members of the church, and 
Bro. John Mullis and a Bro. Burton, who died a few 
years since in southwestern Missouri, had preached 
there occasionally, but I believe the organization of 
the church properly dates from the above meeting. 
In August following I assisted Bro. T. K. Hansberry, 
the resident preacher at Salem, in a meeting, with 
fourteen additions. In September and October I 
held meetings at Plattsmouth and Rock Bluff, gain- 
ing three additions at the former place and twenty- 
seven at the latter. The church at Pock Bluff was 
organized under the labors of Bro. James Connoran, 
of Iowa. I am unable to give the precise date, but 
it was probably the second organization in the terri- 
tory. Brethren Connoran and Watson, of Iowa, and 



16 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Tate and Parker, of Missouri, as well as Brother 
Dungan, had all labored there with some success pre- 
vious to my visit, and two years before, in the fall of 
1863, a co-operation meeting, representing five of the 
six nominal organizations in the territory and two in 
w^estern Iowa, was held at that place. Father Noah 
Hobbs, and his Christian sons, William, a Bethany 
student, and Bambridge, were among the oldest mem- 
bers of the congregation. During our meeting at 
that place several who made the good confession at 
the night meetings were baptized the same hour of 
the night in the turbid waters of the Missouri river, 
and on one of these baptismal occasions a father, who 
had witnessed the immersion of bis daughter, made 
the confession at the water's edge and was also im- 
mediately baptized. One young lady baptized at this 
meeting was temporarily driven from home by her 
enraged father, a widower, but when he saw the hos- 
pitable doors of the brethren all open to invite her 
entrance, and surveyed the helpless flock of young 
children to whom she had been a nurse and mother, 
he relented and took her back to keep his house in 
order and listen to his abuse of the "Campbellites.'' 
Arrangements had been made for a co-operation 
meeting at Brownville in September, but I did not 
feel justified in leaving the work in which I was 
engaged to attend it. Bro. J. B. Judd, and his ex- 
cellent Christian wilie, of Pawnee City, the couuty seat 
of Pawnee county, forty miles southwest of Brown- 
ville, were in attendance at this meeting, doubtless the 



WOEK IN NEBRASKA. 17 

first meeting of Disciples they had attended in the 
territory. Bro. Judd had two objects in view in at- 
tending the meeting. He not only desired to meet 
with the brethren, but publicly proclaimed his inten- 
tion to capture and take back with him to Pawnee 
City any preacher he might find at the meeting. 
Pawnee City was at that time almost wholly given 
over to Methodism, and Bro. and Sister Judd, and 
Bro. Raper were the only Disciples in the place. The 
Methodist church was the only organized religious 
body, and the Nemaha Valley Seminary, located 
there, though not nominally a denominational school, 
was to all intents and purposes a Methodist institution 
of learning. Bro. Dungan was captured and carried 
in triumph to this strong-hold of J\Iethodism, and 
arrangements were made for meeting in the seminary, 
then the only suitable place for worship. At first 
the meeting attracted but very little attention, and the 
Methodists were so far removed from fear of disas- 
trous results from the puny attacks of the stripling 
David that they patronizingly and pityingly proposed 
to each other to ^' go and hear the poor Campbellite'^; 
but at the end of a week there was no " small stir " 
in Pawnee City. Fatal pebbles from the sling of 
Truth began to fall thickly in the Methodist camp, 
and the cries of the maimed, heart pierced, and 
wounded filled the air. The opposition was fully 
aroused, and every sectarian buckled on his armor 
for the hopeless contest, opposing the quick and 
powerful sword of the enemy with the frail w^eapons 



18 . E. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

of raisrepresentatioD and slander. Bro. Dungan was 
declared a thief! and it was whispered about that he 
was in all probability the spy and ring-leader of a 
band of horse-thieves, then committing depredations 
on the border ! But the Rev. M. E. (let me take 
some humble part in immortalizing the heroic leader 
of that forlorn hope by publishing his name) Martin 
Richard marshaled his forces in vain. The people 
had got an inkling of the truth. Bibles were read 
as they had never been read before, and many carried 
the volume of truth in their pockets. It was simply 
the old battle of restoration, so familiar to all our 
pioneer preachers, fought over again in Pawnee City. 
Ten were baptized, and among these David Butler, 
whose excellent Methodist wife I had the pleasure of 
baptizing soon after, afterwards the first governor of 
the state. Several Baptists were also united with us 
upon the Bible, and the cause was established in 
Pawnee City. This was in October, 1865. Com- 
pelled to close the meeting while the interest was in- 
creasing, Bro. Duugan reached Nemaha City, on his 
way home, within the hour of my return home from 
Rock Bluff, and the next morning I was on my way 
to Pawnee City to continue the work so well begun. 
Upon my arrival in Pawnee City I found our Metho- 
dist friends (?) hopefully engaged in efforts to repair 
damages, rejoicing over Bro. Dungan's departure, 
confidently predicting that he would never return, and 
that the little flock he had gathered together would 
soon be scattered to the lour winds. As soon as it 



WOEK 12!^ NEBRASKA. 19 

became known that another preacher of the '^ sect 
everywhere spoken against ^^ was in town^ there was 
again no small stir and hurrying to and fro, and on 
the following day, Sunday, the Methodist brethren, 
being assembled in class meeting, were called upon 
to pledge themselves to stay away from our meeting. 
This I learned from a Methodist sister present at the 
class meeting who was immersed during the meeting 
which followed. Every possible impediment was 
placed in our way, and every conceivable misrepre- 
sentation and falsehood circulated during the three 
weeks^ meeting which followed; but sixteen persons, 
several of them influential citizens, were baptized. 
To show the animus of the opposition, I will state 
that the carcass of a defunct sheep was in the night 
thrown in the pool in which we were accustomed to 
baptize. Said carcass had been dragged from town, 
half a mile, evidently with a total disregard of 
olfactory protests, and as it presented itself to our 
two senses when we approached the water on the fol- 
lowing day, we were compelled to respect it as a 
formidable argument for the opposition, certainly the 
strongest and most soentsible one ever brought against 
our teaching in Pawnee City, even to this day. 

In the fall of 1865 Bro. G. E. Hand, of Missouri, 
came to the territory and was engaged in protracted 
meetings for some months, and afterwards preached 
at Nebraska City half a year. The first week in 
December, Brethren Hand, Dungan, and Judd — a 
younger brother of J. B. Judd, of Pawnee City, con- 



20 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

verted from Congregationalism during Bro. Diingan's 
visit to that place — began a meeting at Rock Bluff. 
I came to the meeting after it had been in progress 
several days, and as Bro. Hand had an urgent invi- 
tation to hold a meeting at Sidney, Iowa, and Bro. 
Dungan desired to visit a little congregation he had 
built upon Salt creek, some forty miles west, I was 
left in charge of the meeting. Bro. Judd accompa- 
nied Bro. Dungan. The meeting was growing in 
interest and five had been added, when the notorious 
Leonard Parker, of the Methodist persuasion, who 
w^as at that time in Plattsmouth, seven miles distant, 
engaged in the sale of a patent-something, sent me 
a w^ritten challenge to debate. It was presented by 
a very courteous and gentlemanly pastor of the M. 
E. church at Plattsmouth, Mr. Almsbury, who came 
to our evening meeting and presented the challenge 
publicly. I promised either to meet Mr. Parker in 
discussion at Plattsmouth on the following Tuesday, 
or produce at that time and place a suitable defender 
of our distinctive plea. This was entirely satisfactory 
to the affable bearer of the gauge of battle, and he 
returned to Plattsmouth to report to the self-pro- 
claimed ^'Campbellite killer,'^ Mr. Parker. I closed 
the meeting, and the next day rode out to Salt creek to 
consult Bro. Dungan. I found him holding a meet- 
ing in a private house, a small log cabin, near Bell's 
station, about three miles southwest of Ashland. 
This was my first visit to the beautiful, and now 
populous, valley of Salt creek. It was then a wild 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 21 

and lonely place, and the most sanguine squatter 
scarcely dared to dream that the iron horse would 
ever drink at the briny stream. What wonderful 
changes nine years have wrought ! Now the valley 
is dotted with villages, traversed and crossed by raiU 
roads, and Lincoln, proud capital of our vigorous 
young state, with its magnificent public and private 
buildings, is built upon the banks of Salt creek. 

We spent the night at the house of Bro. and Sister 
Long, who still live near Ashland, the same kind, 
hospitable, and devoted brother and sister now as 
then, and on the following day returned to Platts- 
mouth. It was decided that the stripling David 
should meet the boasted Goliath at the time and place 
agreed upon. Knowing that Bro. Hand would wish 
to be present, and believing that his counsel might be 
beneficial, I crossed the Missouri river and rode to 
Sidney, intending to return with him to attend the 
discussion. Bro. Hand closed his meeting and we 
started back together, but when we reached the river 
at Kenosha, it was full of floating ice, and the ferry- 
boat, a flat boat propelled by oars, had stopped run- 
ning. Bro. Hand made the dangerous passage in a 
skifl*, and I rode down the east bank, hoping to be 
able to cross with my horse by the steam ferry at 
Nebraska City, twenty miles below. When I reached 
Nebraska City the steam ferry was not only laid up. 
for the winter, but crossing in a skifl" was pronounced 
impracticable. Through a terrible winter storm I 
traveled on down the river opposite Brownville, and 



22 E. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

there, in sight of my Nebraska home, where the dear 
ones awaited my coming, sick, disappointed, and 
thoroughly wretched, I was compelled to pass three 
weary days. Hour after hour each day I gazed 
wistfully across at the inaccessible shore and the vast 
moving ice field intervening. Near the close of the 
third day a skiff containing a man and a boy shot out 
from the Nebraska shore in the crevice in the ice 
field to attempt the perilous passage. Bravely, des- 
})erate]y, with levers, mauls, and oars they fought 
tlieir way, and I could not refrain from cheering them 
as they drew the battered craft upon the Missouri 
shore ; but my enthusiasm abated somewhat when I 
found the man was drunk and the boy crying with 
fear. Here was an opportunity to cross, but should I 
avail myself of it ? I asked the daring drunken navi- 
gator if he intended to return. He said he did but 
would first visit the grocery at Scott City and get 
something to drink. I offered him two dollars to 
take me across, provided he would start at once and 
without the drink. He insisted that he could man- 
age the boat much better with an additional drink. 
I assured him that the saloon at Scott City kept a 
very poor article of whisky (I am sure I told the 
truth) and would better get the drink on the other 
side. (I am not so sure of that.) He hesitated, and 
I turned the scale against the Scott City saloon keeper 
by the offer of an additional half dollar. We crossed 
safely, landing a long way below Brownville, and I 
walked home the same evening, leaving my horse 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 23 

in Missouri. The result of my exposure in the ter- 
rible December storm was typhoid fever, protracted 
to the middle of February. Leonard Parker, ac- 
cording to his own account of himself, the always 
victorious hero of many a hard fought polemic field, 
won no additional laurels at Plattsmouth. He read 
the stale doggerel that he always carried about with 
him, and told the usual number of vulgar stories and 
anecdotes, the most of which was received by the au- 
dience with discouraging gravity. He had evidently 
made no preparation for the discussion, and toward 
the close he was able to fill out his time, even 
by frequent readings of the execrable, nauseating 
doggerel. During the delivery of one of these ab- 
breviated speeches, when after frequent repetitions it 
was evident that he was unable to proceed, a young 
man in the audience expressed his view of the situa- 
tion by repeating in a loud whisper the then current 
slang phrase: ^' Out of soap! ^^ '^ Yes,^\ responded 
another, " and a big washing on hand ! " The Meth- 
odist brethren were greatly disappointed with their 
champion. They were heartily ashamed of his 
coarse vulgarity, and some of them declared he should 
never again enter their pulpit in Plattsmouth. A 
protracted meeting followed with Bro. Hand as chief 
speaker, and eighteen were added to the church. 
Among the prominent members of the church at that 
time were good old Father Ikenbury, who fell asleep 
in Jesus some years since ; Isaac Wiles, still a mem- 
ber, and elder in the church ; and Brethren Phillipps, 

4 



24 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Tutt, and Ethelridge, the latter now a worthy member 
of the church at Greenwood. Our place of meeting 
in Plattsmouth was in a large school-room in the 
second story of a brick building on the north side of 
the principal street. In 1867 our well known Peter 
Vogel preaclied for the congregation for a time, prob- 
ably a year, I am unable to give accurate dates, di- 
vided his time between Plattsmouth and Rock Bluff. 
He was succeeded by Bro. G. B. Mullis, who re- 
moved from Wisconsin to Plattsmouth in 1869. 
During 1862-3, Bro. Cyrus Alton preached for the 
congregation with considerable success. A good 
house of worship was purchased and paid for. 

About the middle of February, 1866, after six 
weeks of severe illness, I was able to join Bro. Hand 
in the last protracted meeting ever held in Browu- 
ville. At this meeting seven were baptized. Soon 
after our house of worship was blown down, and tiie 
congregation had become so greatly reduced in num- 
bers and resources, principally by removals, that it 
was found impossible to rebuild it. Some of the 
members have united at London, five miles dis- 
tant, but about thirty still remain members of the 
Brown ville congregation. Their place of meeting is 
at a school house, four miles north of the town, near 
the residence of Bro. T. B. Edwards, who has been 
j)reaching for the church frequently during the last 
eighteen years. 

At this new place of meeting he has baptized many 
of his neighbors, and, in a quiet, unobtrusive way. 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 25 

has done and is still doing good work for the Master. 
On Sunday night, the last Lord's day in February, 
1 866, I began a meeting in the Methodist house at 
London. The arrangement for the meeting was made 
by Bro. Dr. Gwin, of Brownville, who had an ex- 
tensive practice in the neighborhood. The town and 
vicinity was entirely given over to Methodism ; no 
Christian preacher had ever spoken there, and in the 
minds of many of the inhabitants ^' Campbellites '' 
were probably associated with Centaurs and other 
mythical monsters of by-gone ages. 

Bro. Josiah Winters, Avho had lately moved into 
the neighborhood, promised to furnish lights and fuel 
for the meeting, and our Methodist friends agreed to 
allow us to occupy the house as long as we desired, 
provided we did not interfere with their regular 
meetings. Bro. Groin had arranged for me to stop 
at Father Bacon's, a good old Methodist brother, and 
although my reception at first was not as cordial as I 
would have wished, I was nevertheless well provided 
for. 

On Sunday night an immense audience assembled. 
Expectation was on tiptoe ! As I walked up the aisle 
of the crowded house there was a decided sensation, 
and loudly whispered questions, answers, comments, 
suggestions, " That's him ! " " That's the Camp- 
bellite !" " I don't see any hump on his back ! " I 
entered the pulpit and surveyed the audience. Mirth- 
ful curiosity sat on almost every countenance. I 
longed for the presence of the veteran T. B. Edwards, 



26 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

but he was in attendance upon the meeting at 
Brown ville, and my only allies were Bro. Winters 
and his Christian family. I prayed to God for 
strength and resolved to do valiant service in his 
cause. I had good attention and during the first 
week seven confessed Christ. Several of these, in- 
cluding Jeannette Harding, a cultivated and influen- 
tial lady, were members of the Methodist churcli. 
Leaving an appointment for Sunday night, and every 
night during the next week, I preached at Brown- 
ville on Sunday morning, as the Methodists wished 
to occupy their house. Upon my return at night I 
found many more people assembled than could con- 
veniently gain admittance to the house. At the door 
I was met by a committeeman from the Methodist 
church who politely informed me that I would no 
longer be allowed to preach in the house, or in the 
town of London, until I was able to prove that I 
was not a " runaway rebel from Missouri." The 
crowd understood the situation, and the wildest ex- 
citement prevailed. Bro. Henry Knight, of Nemaha 
City, an ex-soldier, informed me that he ^vas armed 
and would protect me with his life, if necessary, and 
advised me to make my way to the pulpit and demand 
a hearing. Upon reaching the stand I produced, and 
called upon the committeeman to read, letters of 
commendation from every church with which I had 
ever been identified. I was informed that my stand- 
ing in the Christian church was not questioned, but it 
was reported that I had made speeches in Missouri in 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 27 

the interest of secession, and until these reports were 
disproved the meeting would not be allowed to proceed. 
There was no foundation for the report, except the 
admitted fact that I had lived in Missouri a portion 
of the time during the war ; and that it was simply a 
ruse on the part of a few intensely hostile members of 
the Methodist church to close out our meeting was 
almost universally admitted. I resolved to hold the 
house and continue the meeting. I requested the 
committeeman to write to the church and county offi- 
cers of Holt county, Missouri, for information in re- 
gard to my political antecedents, and read the answers 
he might receive to the audience. This he promised 
to do and the meeting was continued. During the 
first week in March sixteen were added and a church 
was organized with Josiah Winter elder. As an en- 
gagement at Salem would compel me to be absent 
several days during the following week, I wrote to 
Bro. Dungan, urging his immediate attendance. He 
came and continued the meeting with continual ad- 
ditions to the saved. The Methodists closed the 
house against him and posted a notice on the door 
announcing that no Christian preacher would again 
be allowed to preach in the house ! Brother Edwin 
Money, who was baptized by Bro. Dungan during 
the meeting, seated and fitted up his storehouse as a 
place of worship and the good work went on. Be- 
fore the meeting was moved from the Methodist 
house, Mr. Orville P. Welch, of the Methodist church, 
who proved himself a fair-minded, truthful, and hon- 



28 R. C. BAREOW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

orable gentleman, received and publicly read some 
half a dozen letters from Missouri and Kansas, com- 
pletely exonerating me from the charge of disloyalty 
to the government of Csesar. I returned, and the 
meeting was kept up the most of the time for four 
or five weeks. The congregation soon numbered over 
one hundred members. A comfortable and commo- 
dious house of worship was completed during the 
next year, 1867. Our quondam Methodist host, father 
Bacon, and many of his brethren united with the 
charch. Bro. D. W. Shurtliif preached regularly 
for the congregation three years. 

In 1869 the congregation employed a preacher 
from Missouri, whose connection with the church was^ 
to say the least, so unfortunate that I withhold his 
name. A protracted Corinthian difficulty followed. 
SoQie were for the new preacher and some against 
him. The difficulty was referred to the State Con- 
vention, which met at Lincoln in the fall of 1870, 
but that body refused to act in the matter, beyond a 
a recommendation to the church at London to select 
a committee, or board of arbitration, to hear evidence 
and decide upon a basis of settlement. Acting upon 
this suggestion the church selected Brethren Sprague, 
Black, and Ervain, well known brethren, who gave 
the case a careful hearing and presented satisfactory 
terms of agreement. The church has lost two or 
three members by Spiritism, and quite a large num- 
ber by death and emigration, but is still quite a large 
and influential body, embracing many excellent breth- 
ren and sisters. 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 29 

In December, 1871, Bro. Clark Braden, of Illi- 
nois, engaged in a debate at London with W. P. 
Shockey, Materialist. There were no Materialists in 
the place previous to the debate, and I have not heard 
of any since. In the spring of 1873 Bro. T. L. 
Cartwright, of Missouri, held a meeting with the 
church, resulting in eighteen additions. 

In June, 1866, at the request of Bro. Henry Suth- 
erlin, who had settled on Spring creek, in Johnson 
county, I made my first visit to Tecumseh, then a 
hamlet of a few houses. Bro. Sutherlin, who has 
since removed to southwest Missouri, had preached a 
few times at Yankee creek, four miles west of Tecum- 
seh. Although a hard working farmer, he preached 
on Sundays whenever he had an opportunity, and his 
fervent zeal and his unquestioned integrity gave him 
influence with the common people, who always heard 
him gladly. The old citizens of Johnson county will 
always remember him as a good and true man, and 
an earnest and devoted servant of the Lord. Riding 
over the vast and lonely prairies, now dotted Avith 
dwellings and groves, and hedge-fringed farms, I 
reached the homestead of Bro. Sutherlin late in the 
afternoon. Arrangements had been made for a meet- 
ing the next morning in a grove on Yankee creek ten 
miles distant, and we decided to go to the house of 
Bro. Cyrus Douglas, one mile west of Tecumseh, 
that evening. The night was pitchy dark, and we 
lost our way and wandered over the prairie several 
hours, looking for the light of some" dwelling, but 



30 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

finally reached the house of Calviu Stuhblefiekl, 
where we passed the night. The next morning it 
rained in torrents but cleared off about noon and a 
small company assembled in the grove. The wind 
arose and roared and shrieked through the bending 
trees like a legion of demons. Demosthenes, while 
practicing for the rostrum, would have been delighted 
with the situation. The writhing, swaying trees 
would have furnished excellent models of gesticula- 
tion and no Grecian audience ever rivaled the wild 
tumult and uproar attendant upon a genuine ^^ Ne- 
braska zephyr!" Of the seven Disciples present at 
that first meeting, three have left the state, two have 
apostatized, and two, Bro. Douglas and his Christian 
wife, are worthy members of the Church of Christ, 
in Tecumseh. The next day I visited the town with 
a view to secure a room for a meeting. There was 
no public building in tlie place. Mrs. Mary Bivins, 
wife of Alexander Bivins, a prominent citizen, kindly 
offered me the use of her kitchen, a long shed-roofed 
addition to a frame dwelling, in size about ten by 
twelve feet. She informed me that she had read Bro. 
Franklin's tract, entitled Christian Experience, pre- 
sented by Bro. David Butler, and was favorably im- 
pressed with our teaching. The first two evenings 
the kitchen was crowded with curiosity seekers. The 
third evening tliere was a show at the residence of 
Mr. Lawrence, and I was left sans an audience. Tlie 
next evening Mrs. Bivins made the good confession, 
and on Sunday she was baptized in the Nemaha river. 



WOKK IN NEBRASKA. 31 

This noble and intelligent lady, who is still a de\ioted 
and influential member of the church at Tecumseh, 
was the first in Johnson county ^' whose heart the 
Lord opened so that she attended to the thing 
spoken/^ and the subsequent success that attended the 
preaching of the word in Tecumseh was largely due 
to her excellent influence. On the first day of March, 
1867, I began a meeting in the new school house. 
We closed on the last day of the month with forty- 
two additions, and the organization of a church with 
Henry Sutherlin, James M. Thompson, and S. L. F. 
Ward elders. In iSTovember, 1867, 1 removed from 
Nemaha City to Tecumseh. We continued to meet in 
the school house until 1869, when we were permitted to 
occupy the court house, which had been built in the 
meantime. In 1870 we were excluded from the court 
house and were compelled to build a house of wor- 
ship. Under the efficient and energetic management 
of Bro. D. Mcllvoy, who did most of the carpenter 
work, Jason L. Phillips, Cyrus Douglas, and J. A. 
Dillon, who is now the sole elder in the congregation, 
a house of worship 24x42 was inclosed, plastered, 
painted, and temporarily seated in the fall of 1871. 
The house was badly damaged by a tornado in the 
summer of ^72, but was finally completed, furnished, 
and opened for worship in February, '73. The 
writer has spoken frequently for the church from the 
beginning. 

The church at Butler, now Elk Creek station, was 
organized during the meeting held by the writer at 



32 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

that place, in March, 1869, J. M. Thompson and 
Robert Hicks elders, M. K. Cody and E. Thompson 
deacons. Bro. Henry Sutherlin preached semi- 
monthly for the church for one year, and Bro. D. W. 
Simrtliif monthly nearly two years. Brethren O. A. 
Phelps and James McGuire have held meetings with 
the church. 

Bro. T. Q. Mathews removed from Iowa to 
S:erling in '71, and was the first to teach primitive 
Christianity in the place. In June, '72, a meeting 
was held by the writer and a church organized with 
T. Q. Mathews elder, and T. C. Lee deacon. 
Preaching every two weeks by Bro. Matliews. 

R. A. Hawley was the first brother to settle at 
Clifton. He removed from Centre, Rock county, 
Wis., to that place in April, 1867. Two months 
later he was followed by Bro. D. B. Coryell, for some 
time an elder in the church at Centre, and his Bro. 
Richard, at that time a Congregational ist. With 
characteristic promptness and energy these two inde- 
fatigable W'orkers made arrangement for a meeting at 
Bro. Hawley's house for the first Lord's day after 
Bro. Coryell arrived. Tluy made a thorough can- 
vass of the neighborhood for. the ])urpose of learning 
the religious views of the people and inviting them 
out to the meeting. They found a few Baptists and 
Methodists, many wdio made no religious profession, 
and one avowed infidel, but none who would call 
them brethren. The nearest congregation of Dis- 
ciples was at London, twelve miles distant. Both 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 33 

brethren were blessed with excellent Christian wives 
who were well calculated to assist in establishing the 
ordinances of the Lord^s house at Clifton. The at- 
tendance at the first meeting was quite large; Breth- 
ren Coryell and Hawley, though at that time unac- 
customed to public speaking, read and explained the 
Scriptures as best they could. Others were persuaded 
to take part in the meeting and considerable interest 
was manifested. From that time on meetings were 
held every Lord^s day morning. A Bible class was 
formed and many animated discussions took place. 
In August, Julius Gilbert, an intelligent and devoted 
Methodist, formerly a class leader, settled at Clifton. 
He immediately took an interest in the meetings and 
Bible class. A deep interest was awakened in the 
community and almost the whole neighborhood came 
together every Sunday to investigate the Scriptures. 
About this time Benton Aldrich, the infidel, made 
himself conspicuous in the Bible class. He declared 
himself able to prove the Bible a false and contra- 
dictory book, teaching the conflicting views of all 
religious bodies. He demanded a place in the class 
and the privilege of showing that opposing systems 
could be proved by the same book. He claimed that 
no one believed it all; that each believed that part of 
it which favored his system or theory and disbelieved 
the rest. He was courteously received and allowed 
ample time to make good his boast, but he utterly 
failed to show that our brethren disbelieved any pas- 
sage in its most obvious sense. On one occasion, at 



34 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

the close of an unanswerable argument by Bro. Cory- 
ell, Mr. Aldrich arose, and addressing Bro. Gilbert, 
called for a similar defense of Methodism. "Now,'^ 
said he, ^^Mr. Coryell has proven that the Bible 
teaches Campbellism, and I want you to show that it 
also teaches Methodism ! You can do it ! If you 
can't, renounce it like a man and embrace Campbell- 
ism !" Bro. Gilbert declined to make anv defense of 
Methodism. 

The design of baptism came up for discussion. 
Several members of the class denied that baptism is 
for the remission of sins. One Baptist brother said 
he agreed with Paul that we are justified by faith 
without the deeds of the law. Mr. Aldrich ex- 
pressed himself highly gratified with the situation, 
"Now," said he, "your apostle Peter plainly and 
positively declares that baptism is for the remission 
of sins. You do not believe it. I do not believe it. 
We are fellow infidels ! I am gaining ground. All 
who disbelieve Peter belong with me;'' and advanc- 
ing to Bro. Gilbert, he offered his hand, but honest, 
God-fearing Bro. Gilbert declined the fraternal greet- 
ing. The meetings were kept up through the fall 
and winter with constantly increasing interest. 

On the 12th day of January, 1868, Bro. Coryell 
delivered a discourse and, at the close, for the first 
time, invited sinners to come to Christ. Two per- 
sons came forward and the speaker turned to Bro. 
Gilbert and asked what they should be instructed to 
do. He replied that Bible precedent and teaching 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 35 

required them to confess their faith in Christ and 
be immediately buried with him in baptism. ''It 
is not," said he, " the teaching of my church, but it 
is clearly the teaching of the word of God." They 
were immersed by Bro. Gilbert. Two weeks froai 
that time, January 26, to the intense disgust of Mr. 
Aldrich, all immersed believers in attendance upon 
the meetings, except two, and I believe they have 
since become members of the church, agreed to unite 
upon the Bible. A church of seventy members was 
organized, with Julius Gilbert and R. A. Hawley 
elders, and George Smedley and Richard Coryell, 
deacons. In the fall of '69 I for the first time vis- 
ited this noble band of brethren. We had a very 
pleasant meeting and nine were added to the church. 
During the meeting I made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Aldrich, and found him, apart from his intense hos- 
tility to Christianity, a very pleasant and companion- 
able gentleman. He told me that he had been the 
means of uniting four religious bodies at Clifton ; a re- 
sult that God had been trying to accomplish for many 
years and signally failed. The brethren have not 
only held the ground in Clifton, but have constantly 
grown in numbers, influence, and working power, 
and have sounded out the gospel in all the region 
round about. Bro. Coryell, especially, has been 
abundant in his labors. He has immersed quite a 
large number at Glen Rock, five miles east of Clifton, 
within the last three years, and held several success- 
ful protracted meetings at other points in the vicinity. 



36 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

He is poor in the things of this world, and usually 
labors six days in the week to support himself and 
family, but is always ready to lay aside the imple- 
ments of manual labor and take up the sword of the 
Spirit, which he has learned to wield with great skill 
and power. We have few meu among us who have 
made a better use of the talents committed to their 
keeping. He has been bitterly persecuted, but labors 
on with increasing zeal and tireless perseverance. 
Death has often entered his humble home and 
claimed the dearest earthly objects of his affection, 
but his faith never falters, and his brave heart never 
faints. When the Master calls him from labor to 
rest he will be found ready, and many that he has 
directed to the Lamb of God will bless his memory. 
It may l)e that the famous saline stream, said to be 
ascended by defeated politicians, is only a myth, but 
S-dt creek, our Salt creek, is a veritable stream, navi- 
gable for the largest sized catfish ! It is a per- 
verse little stream and insists upon flowing nearly due 
north, when, according to all known rules, it ought to 
run south. Almost ten years ago I stood upon the 
gently rising bluffs, just east of the "Old Mormon 
Ford," looking down for the first time upon the vast 
and beautiful valley of Salt creek. I marked the 
course of the forest bordered stream, from its appar- 
ent source in the arching clouds of the horizon, until 
the briny flood was lost in the broad bosom of the 
Platte. Here, I thought, is a fitting seat of empire, 
but it is too far away from the Missouri river — our 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 37 

base. I had traveled from Kock Bluff, forty miles, 
over an unsettled prairie, and was in search of Bro. 
Dungan. I expected to find him in some of the lit- 
tle houses that nestled in the edge of the timber that 
skirted the stream. How he ever found his way ta 
that remote place in the winter of 1864-5 is a mys- 
tery. In those days we frequently traveled on horse- 
back to our appointments, eighty and one hundred 
miles. In winter we floundered through the snow 
drifts and breasted the pitiless icy wdnds that swept 
over the vast, bleak prairies. In summer we some- 
times suffered severely from thirst, huuger, and weari- 
ness, and often with great difficulty forded the un- 
bridged streams. And here let me do that historic 
horse,, ''poor dead Ccesar/^ this justice. He coidd, in 
some way, get out of the deepest mudhole, but I still 
protest that the performance was not graceful. But 
those days of labor and suffering for the Master were 
happy days after all, and as I write my heart is bur- 
dened with tender memories of ten years ago. How 
my heart bounded with joy at the sight of a brother's 
house, and thrilled as I clasped a brother's hand ! 
Let no one who may read these sketches infer, from 
anything I have written, that the brethren are nig- 
gardly, and unwilling to support preachers of the 
gospel. In proportion to their means, they have 
given freely, but they are poor. We all came here 
poor. We have labored hard to make for ourselves 
and our children comfortable homes. Disaster has 
overtaken our state, and to-day many lack the most 
common comforts of life. 



38 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

The Church of Christ on Salt creek was under the 
labors of Bro. Dungan in February, 1865. The 
meetings were held in a log cabin near Bell's station. 
In this log cabin our excellent and well known Bro. 
A. C. Loder and his wife, Robt. Farmer, M. C. 
Long, Benj. Parker, and others confessed Christ. 
Bm. Robert E. Farmer, now of Greenwood, was the 
first person immersed at Salt creek. L. H. Bell and 
wife, L. C. Chevront and wife, and Father Sheifer 
were among the original members. Father Sheffer 
was chosen elder and Lemuel Chevront deacon. The 
congregation continued to meet in the log cabin for 
some time, and quite a number were added in addi- 
tion to those named above. Meetings were also held 
in groves, private houses, and school houses. In the 
summer of '65, at a meeting held in a grove on Cal- 
lahan's branch, A. C. Loder was added to the elder- 
ship, and Owen Marshall was elected deacon. Both 
of these brethren still occupy the positions to which 
they were at that time elected, and are very efficient 
officers. Phillip Golly and Wm. Laughlin have 
since been added to the eldership. After the B. & M. 
railroad was built through the valley and a little 
town had sprung up at Greenwood station some three 
miles south of the old place of meeting, the brethren 
gnidually l)egun to make their headquarters at that 
place. Bro. George Mansfield, of Cedar creek, where 
Bro. Dungan organized a small congregation in '65, 
preached for the church for some time, and later Bro. 
Benjamin Baker for a time. Bro. Dungan frequently 



WOKK IN NEBKASKA. 39 

held meetings with the church for several years. I 
have a letter before me from Bro. Loder, in which, 
writing of the meetings in the log cabin, he says: 
*' Bro. Dangan was not a big preacher at that time ; 
in fact only a boy, as you may say, but he was in 
earnest, and preached the ancient gospel with great 
power, leading many sinners to see the error of their 
ways.^^ 

In February, '74, the writer held a meeting with 
the church at Greenwood with forty-seven additions 
— thirty-three by baptism. The meeting was con- 
tinued by Bro. Dungan, and in all I think 69 were 
added. The meeting was held in the Congregationalist 
house of worship. During this meeting Bro. C. A. 
Miller, a Baptist preacher of fine ability and good 
reputation, united with the church. A few weeks 
later I returned to Greenwood to spend a few days 
with the church, but our Congregationalist friends 
refused to allow me to speak in their house. The 
brethren rented a hall in which I spoke three times 
and took one confession. During the summer of '74 
a neat and commodious house of worship was built, 
much of the responsibility and labors being cheer- 
fully assumed by Brethren Loder and Marshall. In 
September the State Meeting was held with the 
church. 

When I removed to Nemaha City, in the summer 
of '65, horse racing, gambling, and whisky drinking 
were the principal occupations of a very large major- 
ity of the inhabitants. True, there were a few good 



40 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

moral citizens, in addition to the excellent brethren 
named in a previous sketch, but they were powerless 
to stay the tide of evil. On one occasion, when Bro. 
T. K. Hansberry was preaching in the old school 
house, a drunken desperado named Stephens entered 
the house and ordered him out of the stand, saying 
that he intended to finish the sermon himself! As 
Bro. Hansberry did not see fit to comply with this 
extraordinary demand, Stephens advanced, seized 
him roughly by the collar and attempted to pull him 
from the stand, saying, " Get out of here, d — you ; you 
can't preach ; let me preach ! '' Several citizens ejected 
the wretched man from the house, Mr. Frank Chaph'n 
accelerating his progress by frequent and vigorous 
applications of a number nine boot, and the service 
proceeded. In the fall of '66, at my request, Bro. 
Dungan preached in Nemaha City a week or ten 
days, and immersed three or four persons. I was 
absent from home during the meeting. He after- 
wards told me that he found it very difficult to make 
his sermons equal the horse races in interest. He 
gave it as his opinion that a number of people in the 
surrounding country would like to become Christians^ 
but unfortunately they were just at that time engaged 
in making molasses. A few years ago, finding it im- 
possible to make any further progress in the town^ 
the place of meeting was changed to Larkin's school 
house, three miles south, where we now have an ex- 
cellent congregation. In the midst of a perverse and 
wicked generation, these brethren have been true to 



WORK EST NEBRASKA. 41 

Christ and true to each other. For ten years I have 
been intimately associated with them and count them 
among my best and truest friends. Excepting the 
church at Tecumseh, I have spoken more frequently 
to this congregation than to any other in the state, 
and have baptized, married, and assisted in burying 
many of its members. 

W. P. Shockey, the great (avoirdupois) Materialist, 
who settled in Nemaha City in 1867, lives in the im- 
mediate neighborhood of our place of meeting. When 
he first came among us he boasted loudly of his 
ability to break up this and other congregations, but, 
so far as I know, he has failed to shake the faith of 
a single Disciple. He can now very nearly count his 
followers in this state upon his fingers. He is now 
preaching that the dead will be raised in '^ seven 
bands," and at seven different periods, and that all 
will be '^ saved in the ages to come.'' Two years ago 
he taught that the wicked dead would never be raised ; 
six years ago that they would be resurrected and de- 
stroyed. He is a man of considerable ability, but 
like all others who have once known the truth and 
forsaken it, he has become a complete wreck. 

While living in Nemaha City I held meetings at 
many places in the surrounding country and organ- 
ized several small congregations. In the fall of '67, 
learning that Bro. Laughlin had settled at Big Spring, 
four miles south of St. Deroin, I visited the place 
and held a meeting. About twenty were baptized at 

the first meeting. Other meetings followed and a 
4 



42 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

church was organized. For some time this insignifi- 
cant village, St. Deroiu, hidden away among the bluffs 
of the Missouri river, was considered the Mecca of 
Materialism in this state, and perhaps half a dozen 
soul-sleepers could now be unearthed in the vicinity. 
In '69 Bro. Dungan visited the place and delivered a 
series of lectures against Materialism. A church was 
soon organized, with Isaac Clark elder. In the sum- 
mer of '71 the writer held a meeting with the church 
and eight'were baptized. In the fall of the same 
year Bro. Braden debated with W. P. Shockey at St. 
Deroin. The discussion was a very exciting one, and 
results prove that Materialism sustained an over- 
whelming defeat. Over twenty persons were baptized 
by Bro. Braden and Bro. J. W. Tate at the close of 
the discussion. 

Several|brethren from Illinois settled at Monterey, 
twelve miles west of Nemaha City, in 1864-5, and 
among them'our preaching brother, D. W. Shurtliff. 
In September, ^66, I assisted Bro. Shurtliff in a 
meeting and about forty were baptized. At the above 
meeting seven young men, all between twenty and 
twenty- four^years old, were immersed at one time, 
and on^another occasion three old men, the youngest 
over sixty and the oldest near eighty. Such are the 
nomadic habits'of our people that no more than two 
or three families of brethren now live in the neigh- 
borhood, and the church no longer exists. 

The exciting events connected with the founding of 
the church fat Pawnee City, in the fall of '65, under 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 43 

the labors of Bro. Dangan, are described at some 
leugth in another sketch. In March, '66, Bro. G. R. 
Hand held a meeting with the church, and afterwards 
preached monthly for six months. About twenty 
were added under his labors. In November of the 
same year the writer assisted the church in a meeting 
resulting in seventeen additions. Bro. Richard Linn 
preached frequently for the church during the first 
three years. 

In August, '68, Bro. Dungan settled with the con- 
gregation and remained until May, '71. During 
this time a good house of worship was built and many 
were added to the church. The intense opposition of 
the Methodists culminated in the Dungan and Luccoc 
debate in '69. From the beginning every inch of 
ground had been hotly contested, and it had been 
frequently intimated that an invincible controversial- 
ist would be imported who would utterly demolish 
the fledgling preachers of the Christian church in 
Nebraska. Finally, under the direction of a Meth- 
odist preacher, now at Crestou, Iowa — a man of sub- 
lime assurance, gross ignorance, and unsavory repu- 
taton — the veteran debater, John Luccoc, of Illinois, 
was engaged for the defense of Methodism. The 
preacher referred to assured his friends that " Luccoc 
would blackguard Dungan out of Pawnee City 
within three days," and the sequel proved him well 
acquainted with Mr. Luccoc's forte. It was evident 
that Mr. Luccoc had been misinformed in i-egard to 
the ability of his opponent, and that he had placed 



44 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

too low an estimate upon the intelligence of the audi- 
ence. At the end of eight days he was completely 
broken down, and an object of pity to all present. 
His last speech was simply a depreciating whine, a 
pitiful appeal to the sympatliies of the audience whose 
sense of propriety and decency he had shocked and 
outraged by his vulgarity for eight days. One was 
immersed during the discussion, and at the close six, 
several of them prominent citizens, were also buried 
in baptism. 

Table Rock perpetuates the memory of a huge 
rock in the form of a table, long since overturned. 
It was large enough for a festive board for the giants 
of Terra, and was considered a great curiosity. The 
first settlers were Methodists, and the faithful and per- 
sistent efforts that have been made to build up a 
church in the place have been attended with but lit- 
tle success. Bro. E-ichard Linn settled at Table 
Rock in the spring of '65. Bro. Linn had a large 
and intelligent family, all of suitable age being mem- 
bers of the church. His accomplished daughter 
Emma is quite well known as a writer. She was at 
one time associated with Bro. T. J. Shelton, in edit- 
ing l^he Rock. There are several other families, 
connections, of the same name in the vicinity, and I 
think at least a dozen worthy members of the little 
church at Table Rock are named Linn. As soon as 
he was fairlv settled in his new home Bro. Linn be- 
gan to preach to the people. A Bro. Davis, after- 
wards supposed to be murdered by Indians, and three 



WOEK IN NEBRASKA. 45 

or four other Disciples, were found in the vicinity. 
These were brought together and the Lord's death 
commemorated for the first time in Pawnee county. 
When the church was founded in Pawnee City, six 
miles distant, Bro. Linn and his family united with 
the church at that place, but he did not cease his ef- 
forts to build up a church at home. In the winter of 
^66^ Bro. Dungan immersed four persons at Table 
Kock, the result of a meeting of nearly two weeks. 
The present organization, of about thirty members, 
was effected during a meeting held by the writer in 
the fall of ^72. 

Bro. O. J. Tinker was the first settler at Hum- 
boldt, and the original proprietor of the town, which 
now contains 500 inhabitants. In ^65-6, I often 
stopped at his isolated dwelling on my way to Paw- 
nee City, sure of a warm meeting and boundless hos- 
pitality. In October, '66, a meeting was held by the 
writer in a newly completed adobe school house near 
Bro. Tinker's residence, and eight persons were bap- 
tized. I think Bro. Shurtliff, and perhaps Bro. Linn, 
had previously spoken there. Bro. Tinker was the 
first, and I think for some time the only elder. In 
the winter of '67, Bro. Dungan held a successful 
meeting with the church. Wm. Smith, J. F. Berry, 
P. T. Russell, and F. M. Hawkins have at different 
times been employed to preach for the congregation. 

In this place the brethren made the mistake of 
contributing largely to the erection of a Methodist 
house, with the understanding that they would be al- 



46 R. c. barrow: his life and work. 

lowed to use it a portion of the time. They have 
occupied it a part of the time for several years by 
paying an exorbitant rent! 

Nebraska was admitted into the family of states on 
the second day of March, 1867. In June following, 
the commissioners appointed to locate a capital city 
frightened the coyotes and jack rabbits that had from 
time immemorial held peaceable possession of the 
prairies of upper Salt creek, by driving down their 
stakes upon the plateau east of the great salt basin. 
There w^as the city with its long rows of stakes, but 
would there ever be any buildings in it? The Alad- 
din of American enterprise brought forth the won- 
derful lamp and — presto ! Well, purchase a through 
ticket to Lincoln from any city in the United States 
or Canada, and see what has been accomplished in 
eight years ! When you reach the depot at Lincoln 
get a carriage, for it is a "city of magnificent dis- 
tances.^' Visit the state house, university, insane 
asylum, and penitentiary ; and wdiile making your 
tour of observation you may count a dozen houses of 
worship. While acting as chaplain in the legislature 
in the winter of 1868-9, Bro. Dungan held several 
meetings, the first by our brethren in the place. He 
canvassed the city and vicinity and obtained a list of 
twenty-eight names of those who had elsewdiere been 
members of the church. The largest number of 
these were living in the country, some of them ten 
miles distant. On the 24th day of January, 1869, an 
organization] was effected, and the veterans Michael 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 47 

Combs and Joseph Robiusou were chosen elders. Bro. 
J. M. Yearnshaw settled in Lincoln in May follow- 
ing. On the second Lord's day in July eight breth- 
ren met together in his uncompleted dwelling and 
broke the loaf for the first time in Lincoln. A car- 
penter's work-bench was used for a pulpit and com- 
munion table. On the next Lord's day twelve brethren 
broke bread at Bro. Yearnshaw's house, and from 
that time on the brethren met every Lord's day, Bro. 
Yearnshaw preaching for them. The only house 
of worship in Lincoln at that time was a small 
frame structure on Tenth street, owned by the Meth- 
odists. It has lately been moved to the south part of 
the city, near Bro. Dungan's residence, and converted 
into a ward school house. In the fall of '69, the 
Methodists completed a new house of worship and 
our brethren rented the old one, where they met every 
Lord's day for nearly a year. 

The first immersion at Lincoln was that of Julia 
McCoy, a deaf mute. She was baptized by Bro. 
Yearnshaw, August 22, '69, near where the Atchison 
<fe Nebraska railroad depot now stands, in the over- 
flowing waters of Salt creek, which was at that time 
nearly a mile wide. When Lincoln was founded the 
state donated three lots to each of the principal re- 
ligious bodies, provided a house of worship was built 
thereon within three years. A subscription had been 
circulated during Bro. Dungan's stay in Lincoln, and 
about $1,200 pledged towards the erection of a house, 
but nothing further was done in the matter till the 



48 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

fall of '69, when Brethren Yearnshaw, French, and 
Hawk were appointed a building committee. Dr. 
French was compelled to devote nearly all his time 
to professional duties, Bro. Hawk was living in the 
country, and the labor devolved almost wholly upon 
Bi'o. Yearnshaw. The subscription was increased 
about $1,000, and in November the work of build- 
ing was commenced. The house must be completed 
within a year or the lots, which had become valuable, 
would revert to the state. The work was pushed 
forward during the winter, when the weather would 
permit, and the house was completed and opened for 
worship on the 3d day of July, 1870. Bro. Yearn- 
shaw not only su})erintended the work of building, 
devoting nearly all his time to the work for several 
months, but labored much of the time with his own 
hands, and advanced the money from his private 
funds whenever collections could not be made. All 
the leading i)reachers of Lincoln participated in the 
opening exercises, and the house was crowded. Bro. 
Yearnshaw delivered the opening discourse. 

In September following, tlie State meeting was held 
with the church. The brethren continued to meet 
for worship, with accessions almost every Lord's day, 
and at the close of the second year the membership 
was about eighty. In May, 1871, Bro. Dungan 
was employed to labor for the congregation three 
months, and at the close of that time he was engaged 
for one year. He continued to preach for the church 
three years, to the entire satisfaction of the member- 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 49 

ship, and gaining the respect and esteem of the entire 
community. During the second year of Bro. Dun- 
gan's labors the church numbered 110. Removals 
and deaths, principally the former, have reduced the 
number to about eighty. When Bro. Dungan^s time 
«xi)ired Bro. A. R. Benton, who had frequently sup- 
plied his place in his absence, and Bro. Yearushaw, 
conducted the worship for some months. In October, 
'74, Bro. J. B. Johnson was employed, but on account 
of failing health he was compelled to resign, after 
some three months of very acceptable service. At 
this writing Bro. J. Mad. Williams, of Beatrice, is 
preaching for the congregation every two weeks. 

Bro. T. K. Hausberry, who must be regarded as 
the founder of the church at Salem, settled on a farm 
near that place in the fall of 1863. There were sev- 
eral Disciples in the town and vicinity, and Bro. John 
Mullis had held meetings in Salem ; but, so far as I 
<;an learn, there was not even a nominal organization. 
At that time there was no church or school house, or 
public building of any kind in the place, and the 
meetings were held at private houses. Three saloons 
were in full blast, and bloody affrays frequently fur- 
nished tenants for the graveyard on the hill. Almost 
every day and night, Sunday not excepted, was made 
hideous by crowds of noisy, drunken, quarrelsome 
men. About this time some of the best citizens of 
the place, after mature deliberation, shot to death a 
noted desperado and murderer, who constantly threat- 
ened the lives of peaceable citizens. Bro. Hansberry 



50 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

immediately took the field against King Alcohol^ 
reasoning boldly of '^ righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment to come/^ If our good brother is intem- 
perate in anything, it is in his ardent advocacy of 
temperance, and vehement and unsparing denuncia- 
tion of the venders of '^ liquid death and distilled 
damnation/' After exhausting all admissible adjec- 
tives in our vernacular, I have heard him coin new 
ones, expressive of his loathing of the whisky seller. 
Of course all in the whisky interest were soon arrayed 
against him in deadly enmity. He was advised to- 
^' attend to his own business of preaching the gospel 
instead of interfering with the legitimate and legal- 
ized business of his neighbors ! ^^ His life was often 
threatened, and at one time a mob was organized for 
his destruction, but he escaped, as he says, " by the 
grace of God.^' His warmest friends advised him, 
at least for a time, to be silent on the temperance ques- 
tion. On one occasion his friends entreated him not. 
to attempt to fill an appointment in Salem, or if he 
did speak, to say nothing upon the subject of tem- 
perance. Bro. Hansberry not only kept his appoint- 
ment but delivered a discourse on the evils of in- 
temperance, and denounced the whisky business in 
unmeasured terms. The friends of order, education, 
and Christianity rallied to his support, and within 
two years the last saloon was driven from the town, 
and a good school house was built. 

In August, ^65, I assisted Bro. Hansberry in a 
successful meeting, during which officers were chosen 



WOEK IN NEBRASKA. 51 

and the organization perfected. Among the active 
and devoted members, I remember the names of Breth- 
ren Nelson, son of Elder Wm. Nelson, Mobley, and 
Tisdel; Sisters Lincoln, Rising, Kinnison, and Camp- 
bell, whose husbands were not members. After liv- 
ing on his farm one year, Bro. Hansberry removed 
to town and was abundant in his labors both at home 
and abroad. 

In the spring of ^^^ Elder Wm. Nelson, one of the 
pioneer preachers of Indiana, came to Nebraska and 
took up his residence with his daughter, Sister Had- 
lock, who then lived near Salem. During the sum- 
mer he preached at Salem, Nebraska City, and other 
points. The weight of years rested heavily upon him^ 
yet when he told the story of the cross, his resistless 
pathos, the beauty of his great loving heart beaming 
forth like a halo of glory from his countenance, to- 
gether with the bursts of rare eloquence, gave u& 
glimpses of the fellow laborer of Scott and Martindale 
in the long ago. In the fall, in October, I think, he 
fell asleep in Jesus. The writer spoke at his funeral 
and followed the mortal remains to their last resting 
place upon the summit of the lofty bluffs that over- 
look the Missouri river, just north of Nemaha City. 
One who knew and loved him well insists that 
brief mention of the life and service of this ^^ great 
and good man^' be made in this sketch. Bro. Nel- 
son obeyed the gospel in early manhood, in Cas& 
county, Indiana, and immediately became the yoke- 
fellow and traveling companion of Bro. John Scott, 



62 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

following his discourses with exhortation, as was the 
custom in those cla3^s. He was soon put iuto the field 
as an evangelist in Cass, Carroll, Howard, and Miami 
counties, where he labored with great success for many 
years, baptizing hundreds of persons and founding 
many churches. Thousands in all that region will 
be glad to be again reminded of this pure and faith- 
ful man of God. If the brethren there remember with 
regret that he labored among them so man}" years 
almost wholly at his own charges, we inform them 
that, while he is beyond the reach of earthly rewards, 
his aged wife, now living at Logausport, Ind., may 
yet be comforted by substantial assurances of a due 
appreciation of the unrequited labors of the husband 
of her youth and old age. 

In '67Bro. Hansberry removed from Salem to Pa- 
donia, Kan., and for some time the church was with- 
out regular preaching. Brethren Dungan, Berry, 
Shurtliff, Ran, the writer, and the apostates Webster 
and Finney, held occasional meetings with the church 
till some time in '71, when Bro. J. F. Berry settled 
in Salem. He remained two years, during which 
time the membership increased from about fifty to 
over one hundred. Bro. Berry's health failing, he 
retired to his farm near Hiawatha, Kan. 

For several years we almost despaired of being 
able to establish a church in Falls City. A meeting 
of ten days was held there by the writer in the spring 
of ^66 without any visible results. In '69 G. T. 
Webster, who had been excluded from fellowship and 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 53 

published as an impostor by the church at Oregon, 
Mo., brought together a number of brethren living 
principally in the country, and a house of worship 
was commenced in Falls City. The house was never 
completed and ultimately passed into private hands. 
Quite a large number were baptized by Webster at 
Boyd's school house, Pearson^s school house, and in 
town. As the brethren in this locality have been 
severely censured for sustaining this vile impostor, it 
is but just to say that they were completely deceived 
in regard to the character of the man, and the nature 
of the evidence supporting the charges against him. 
Those who know him need not be told that he is well 
calculated to deceive. 

In the fall of 72, Bro. T. L. Cartwright held a 
successful meeting in Falls City. Several were bap- 
tized, officers were elected, and arrangements made 
for regular worship. In June '74, the writer held a 
series of meetings with the church resulting in about 
twenty additions. 

The Baptists were holding a series of meetings in 
Falls City at the same time. Several were added at 
their meetings, and among them G. T. Webster, who 
related an experience in due form ! He had previ- 
ously declared his intention to unite with the Baptist 
church for the purpose of placing himself in a posi- 
tion to revenge his fancied wrongs by opposing the 
teaching of our brethren ! He is now preaching for 
our Baptist brethren, and I am told he utterly de- 
molishes something he is pleased to call Campbellism 
in almost every discourse. 



54 R. C. BAERO^V : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Illinois Settlement is the name given to a populous 
and thrifty neighborhood, nearly midway between 
Nebraska City and Tecumseh — some sixteen miles 
from either place. It is one of the loveliest rural 
districts in the state. The roads and farms are bor- 
dered with hedges and trees, and the houses are hid- 
den away in beautiful groves. Among the earliest 
settlers, who, as the name indicates, were from Illi- 
nois, were brethren E,. V. Black, Felix and Frederick 
Setts, and their Christian families. In February, '68, 
I held the first meeting by our brethren at that place. 
About twenty were baptized, and a church of twenty- 
seven members organized. Bro. Henry Sutherlin 
preached for the congregation every two weeks the 
first year, and the writer monthly during the second 
year. 

In 1870 Bro. John Truax, now in Minnesota, 
settled with the congregation. About this time 
Brethren Elliot, Ewan, Calvin, Hubbard, and oth- 
ers, removed to the neighborhood, and the church 
was greatly strengthened. Bro. Truax preached for 
the congregation very acceptably two years. In the 
spring of '71 Bro. Cyrus Alton assisted him in a 
meeting, and quite a number were added to the 
church. 

AVhen Bro. Truax withdrew from the state, I 
again visited the congregation monthly for a time. 

The church at Unadilla was founded by Bro. J. 
B. Johnson. Compelled to abandon his position as 
pastor of the church at Cleveland, Ohio, on account 



WORK IK NEBRASKA. 55 

of failing health, he settled on a farm one mile east 
of Unadilla, in the spring of 1872. The town con- 
sisted of about a dozen houses, the railroad depot in- 
cluded. Several excellent Congregationalist and 
Methodist brethren were living in the town and vicin- 
ity, but there was no church organization in the 
place. There were no Disciples in the neighborhood. 
As soon as his health would permit, Bro. Johnson 
began to hold meetings at his own house, and at the 
houses of his neighbors. He soon succeeded in or- 
ganizing a Sunday school, supported by the entire 
religious element in the communiiy. Sister Anna 
Sanders was the first resident of Unadilla immersed 
upon a profession of faith in Christ. She was in at- 
tendance upon the state meeting at Lincoln, in the 
the fall of ^72, where she made the good confession 
and was immersed by the writer in the baptistry of 
the Baptist church. In June, ^73, I was called to 
assist Bro. Johnson in the only protracted meeting 
ever held at Unadilla. Bro. Johnson had previously 
immersed quite a number of persons, but no organi- 
zation had been effected. During the meeting ten 
persons were immersed, officers were chosen, and 
bread was broken for the first time. The evening 
and Lord's day meetings were held in the store of 
Mr. Abbott, week day meetings at Bro. Johnson's 
house. 

The church at Barada was organized in November, 
'72, with forty-five members. Previous to this time 
Brethren Braden and Truax had preached here a 



56 E. C. BAEROW: HIS LIFE AND WOEK. 

few times, and Bro. Phelps raocthly for six months. 
Eight Disciples were living in the neighborhood. 

My first visit to the place was made in company 
with Bro. Triiax in the summer of '72. During the 
meeting held at that time three persons previously 
connected with the denominations associated them- 
selves with the brethren. In November following a 
meeting was held by the writer with thirty-four ad- 
ditions. The meeting was held in a well ventilated 
log school house. I think a good-sized cat could 
have been thrown through some of the holes in the 
wall. The building was warmed (?) by a large stove 
in the center, and the audience was always divided^ 
in efforts to secure comfortable positions, into two 
classes : those who were trying to get near the stove 
to keep from freezing, and those who were trying to 
get away from the stove to keep from being burned 
up! During the meeting Stephen Fairchilds, an 
aged Methodist preacher, was immersed. 

The church at Bower was founded under the joint 
labors of Brethren L. C. Baur and Theodore John- 
son. Bro. Baur came to Nebraska in the spring of 
'69. Leaving his family in Nebraska City, he started 
out to explore the county and select a location. He 
visited Jefferson county and purchased the site of his 
present home. The populous and highly cultivated 
district known as Bower was then simply a part of 
the vast and almost tenantless prairie that spanned 
the distance between the Big and Little Blue rivers. 
Not a furrow had been turned within four miles of 



WOEK IN NEBKASKA. 67 

the location selected by Bro. Baur. While taking 
the necessary steps to secure the land he stopped at 
the nearest house, that of Mr. Armstrong, four miles 
distant. Having learned that his guest was a 
preacher, Mr. Armstrong invited his neighbors to 
meet at his house on the next Lord's day for worship. 
Nearly all the settlers within a radius of five or six 
miles came together and Bro. Baur preached to them. 
This was on Sunday, June 6, 1869. It was the first 
sermon by our brethren in that region of country. 
Bro. Baur returned to Nebraska City and remained 
till the second week in August, when, in company 
with Bro. Theo. Johnson, who was also in search of 
a new home, he again returned to Jefferson county. 
On the first Lord's day after they arrived at Mr. 
Armstrong's they attended a meeting of United 
Brethren, five miles east. The meeting was held in 
an arbor constructed of trunks and branches of small 
trees and seated with rough boards. Dinner was 
provided on the ground. The meeting was held with 
a view to organize a church of United Brethen, and 
the speaker of the occasion, in his morning discourse, 
proceeded to set forth the doctrines of his church. 
Faith and repentance were declared to be the only 
conditions of salvation. During the dinner recess 
Blo. Johnson asked him for his authority for this 
statement. He was referred to Acts 2 : 38, to which 
Bro. Johnson immediately turned and called atten- 
tion to the omitted condition of baptism. He was 
informed that he would be allowed to express his 
6 



58 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

views in public at the close of the afternoon sermon^ 
The afternoon discourse was an attempt to prove that 
baptism is not a condition of pardon. As soon as 
the sermon was concluded the speaker and two of 
his friends left the ground, and Brethren Johnson and 
improved the opportunity to instruct the people in 
the way of the Lord more perfectly. 

The first week in September Bro. Baur^s family 
arrived upon the ground and took possession of their 
new home. Three weeks later Bro. Johnson's wife 
came on from Ohio, and the two families lived to- 
gether until Bro. Johnson had time to build a house 
on his homestead. Meetings were now held every 
Lord's day at Bro. Baur's house. In December fol- 
lowing, the United Brethren held a protracted meet- 
ing on Cub creek, eight miles east. Brethren Johnson 
and Baur attended, and the former was invited to 
assist in organizing a church of United Brethren. 
This Bro. Johnson declined to do, but offered to assist 
in preaching, leaving the choice of churches with the 
people. This the speaker, Mr. Allen, refused to do, 
but promised the brethren he would leave the meet- 
ing in their hands if he failed to secure a suitable 
number for an organization within a given time, pro- 
vided they would not, in the meantime, interfere with 
his labors. To this arrangement the brethren readily 
consented. At the proper time the front seats were 
vacated and all who were willing to be United Breth- 
ren were invited to come forward. Only one re- 
sponded, and as Mr. Allen was not prepared to 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 59 

organize a United Brother church, the meeting was 
given up to our brethren. The next evening Bro. 
Johnson preached and four confessed Christ. The 
meetings at this point closed with the year '69, and 
the next evening, January 1, it was moved to Bro. 
Baur's house. His oldest son made the good confes- 
sion New Year's night. The next day, Sunday, the 
congregation was organized. Up to this time there 
had been fourteen additions, making twenty-eight 
members in all. The meeting was continued several 
days at Bro. Baur's house, and eight were added to 
the church, making thirty-six. In the spring follow- 
ing Wm. Sumpter, a Congregationalist preacher from 
England, settled in the neighborhood. While build- 
ing a house on his homestead he boarded at Bro. 
Baur's, and had many conversations and no little 
controversy with him in relation to the teaching of 
the Scriptures. These conversations led Bro. Sump- 
ter to re-examine the Scriptures bearing upon the 
action and design of baptism, and a few months later 
he was baptized by Bro. Johnson. His wife was 
also immersed at the same time. The day after his 
immersion he preached for the Disciples, and has 
ever since contended earnestly for the faith. He is a 
man of fine ability, fair education, and undoubted 
honesty, and is greatly beloved by all who know him. 
His writings often enrich the columns of our period- 
icals. In February, '73, Bro. Johnson removed to 
Ohio. The church now numbers forty-one members. 
Hebron is a lovely little village in the valley of 



60 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

the Little Blue river, near the sixth principal merid- 
iaD. It is the county seat of Thayer, and contains 
about 500 inhabitants. It was founded in the spring 
of 1869. Previous to that time the valley was 
sparsely settled by ranchmen and squatters, who were 
occasionally driven out or murdered by the Indians. 

The last general massacre and stampede of the 
settlers took place in the summer of 1864. At that 
time Joseph Roper, with whom the writer has been 
acquainted from boyhood, was keeping a ranch four 
miles above where Hebron now stands. The family 
consisted of Mr. Roper, his wife, and two grown 
daughters. When the Indians attacked the settle- 
ment the eldest daughter, with her affianced lover, 
was at a social gathering at the house of a neighbor. 
The Indians surrounded the house and killed or cap- 
tured all the inmates. My friend's daughter saw 
her lover killed and scalped, and in company with 
two other young ladies, was borne away into captivity. 
Mr. Roper, with his wife and remaining daughter 
barely escaped from their dwelling and mounted 
their horses before it was surrounded by the Indians. 
The daughter remaihed in captivity about a year, 
subject to the most brutal treatment, but was finally 
purchased by an officer at Ft. Kearney, and returned 
to her parents. She is now married and living near 
Beatrice. 

Soon after the town of Hebron was founded the 
Indians made a descent upon the settlement, but were 
repulsed. 



WOKK IN NEBRASKA. 61 

Elder L. J. Correll settled at Hebron Id the fall of 
1869. Soon after his arrival he visited Omaha and 
prevailed upon General Auger to send a company of 
soldiers for the protection of the settlers. The first 
sermon in the settlement was preached by Elder Cor- 
rell to the soldiers and citizens, at the company's bar- 
racks. Regular meetings were commenced and the 
loaf broken for the first time, in October, 1869. 
Bro. Correll and Elder C. J. Rhodes preached alter- 
nately until the following spring, when Elder J. 
Hendershot and other brethren came in, and a con- 
gregation was organized. Brethren Correll, Rhodes, 
and Hendershot were chosen elders. 

These alternated in preaching until the fall of 1872, 
when Bro. Wm. Sumpter was employed for one year. 
During his labors with the church a protracted meet- 
ing was held, Bro. L. C. Baur assisting, and two or 
three persons were baptized. 

In August, 1874, the writer assisted the church in 
a meeting resulting in twelve additions, nine by bap- 
tism. Bro. Correll has labored a part of the time at 
other places since the church was founded, and Bro. 
Hendershot has labored more abundantly for the 
church than any one else. He is an excellent and 
faithful brother, and has the entire confidence of the 
brethren. 

Beatrice is one of the largest and most important 
cities of the second class in southern Nebraska. It 
is situated on the Big Blue river, some forty miles 
south of Lincoln. It enjoys the advantages of a 



62 K. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

splendid water power, inexhaustible quarries of the 
finest building stone in the state, and a surrounding 
country unsurpassed for fertility and beauty. 

The first meeting in the place by our brethren was 
held by the writer in May, 1868. The meeting was 
held in the school house, a small frame structure, 
which long since gave place to a fine brick edifice. 
Bro. John Tripp and wife, now residing in Wilber, 
were the only Disciples in the place. At the above 
meeting Dr. H. M. Reynolds and wife, Mrs. Har- 
rington, and a young man, whose name I have for- 
gotten, were baptized. Bro. Dungan soon after 
preached several days in Beatrice. In July follow- 
ing I held a second meeting with three accessions, and 
two were added during a third visit in August of the 
same year. In the summer of '71 several brethren 
settled in Beatrice, and occasional meetings were held 
at the house of Bro. Reynolds. In the fall of '72 
Bro. J. C. Past attended the state meeting at Lincoln, 
and made arrangements with Bro. J. W. Allen to 
hold a meeting in Beatrice. The meeting began the 
first week in October, and continued ten days, when 
a telegram called Bro. Allen to the bedside of a dying 
brother, and the meeting closed, just when an interest 
began to be manifested. During this meeting two 
were baptized, and a congregation of about twenty 
members organized. 



These were the perilous days for the church. To 
quote the language of another: "At that time we had 



i 



WOEK IN NEBEASKA. 63 

very little missionary organization, either at home or 
abroad. We had no wealthy churches in the east to 
send help. For years all that was done was by the 
sacrifices of a few scattering Disciples, mostly preach- 
ers. Not only were these men left to prosecute the 
war at their own charges, but in the face of the most 
unrelenting opposition. Those who were here 
thought there were churches enough in the territory 
already, and that it was their Christian duty to pre- 
vent others from being started. The opposition to 
us would have been still stronger but for our feeble- 
ness that made us unworthy of even the contempt of 
those who had j)receded us. Money was scarce. 
The civil war lay heavily on the nation ; thieves and 
desperadoes were in awful abundance. Indian scares 
came in for a spicing ; political excitement ran high. 
Suspicion, prejudice, and hate were common. All 
churches in Nebraska suffered from these excitements 
and counter-interests. It seems as if the cause of the 
restoration would certainly go down during this 
storm-vexed condition of the country." 

Through these exciting times ray father labored, 
W'ith the exception of one year, from July, 1865, to 
November, 1890, the time of his death. The great 
number of churches in Nebraska owe their existence 
to his energy and faithfulness. The sword only 
dropped from his hand when he had no longer the 
ability to retain it. Most of the time he struggled in 
poverty. The State Board was many times unable 
to settle with him. He forgave the Board a debt of 



64 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

$1,600 at ODe time. No other man has set foot on 
Nebraska soil who has clone so much good at so small 
an expense, and thousands will rejoice in heaven be- 
cause of his work of faith. 

No man can tell the results of his labors. Place 
in the mighty scale of time and eternity the 5,000 
converts brouglit to Christ directly through his la- 
bors — their children, and children's children made to 
know the Lord through his teaching ; his Godly and 
consecrated life; his words of warning and admoni- 
tion; his counsels for peace; his brotherly kindness 
toward all men, and who shall count the weights re- 
<juired. Not until that great day, when the Infinite 
One shall open the books and settle every account, 
shall the result be known. 

In 1865 my father debated with O. N. Johnson, a 
Seventh Day Adventist, at Franklin, Nebraska, in 
which he affirmed that Christians were neither under 
the law of Moses nor bound to keep the Sabbath. 
The debate comprised eight speeches each, Bro. Bar- 
row having fifteen minutes extra to close. Johnson 
had also, on his last speech, fifteen minutes' extra 
time. The debate was very pleasant and agreeable, 
except that Johnson lost his temper a few times and 
accused Bro. Barrow of misrepresenting him, which 
turned our to be his own misunderstanding. He 
sought by every possible means to mislead and decoy 
my father from the real issue. He would quote 
Scripture wholly foreign to the subject, so as to take 
up his time hunting it up. But when he found he 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 65 

was too old to be caught with such chaff, his next re- 
sort was to keep him as long as possible on a single 
passage, so as to get in the allotted time with as little 
testimony being brought to the front as possible. He 
quoted numerous passages of Scripture which had no 
more to do with the subject under discussion than 
they had with the moon, designed to take up his time 
looking them up. I will give one example of which 
he made numerous such quotations. He quoted Job 
22 : 22, to prove that Job kept the Sabbath. He said 
the Gentiles had the law and kept the Sabbath, and 
quoted about 150 passages of Scripture, all of them 
as pertinent, or nearly so, as the one named. 

This was accounted a grand victory for the truth, 
and a serious blow to the would-be Jews. He also 
debated with Elder Cudney, another Adventist, on 
the same question. 

The only vacation my father took was in 1882, 
when he and the family went to Pennsylvania to visit 
relatives. They remained there about ten weeks. I 
find this account in his writings: 

'' We left our Nebraska home on the forenoon of 
June 20, and took the Burlington & Missouri River 
line. From Chicago we came bv the Erie to Elmira, 
and at 11 o'clock on the evening of the third day 
after leaving home, we alighted from a Northern 
Central train at the romantic, mountain-environed 
village Canton, the home of our childhood. 

" To-day I have wandered through the old church- 
yard, wept at the hallowed grave of my mother, and 



66 E. C. BAEROW: HIS LIFE AND WOEK. 

read many a once familiar name upon the marble- 
slabs that mark the grassy graves of the friends and 
schoolmates of former years. Yesterday 1 stood m 
the old church-house, where twenty years ago I rarely 
saw a strange face, and addressed an audience com- 
posed almost wholly of strangers. At the close of 
the services, perhaps a score of grey headed men and 
women pressed around me with hearty, tearful greet- 
ings, but to nearly all of the large audience I was 
simply a strange preacher from the far west. In 
many young faces I see traces of resemblance to old 
and once well-known families, but I do not expect 
recognition from any one who has not, like myself,, 
seen at least two score years of life. 

" I gaze upon the hills that I so often climbed with 
the light feet of boyhood, follow again the windings of 
the bright little stream that goes murmuring to the 
Susquehanna, and search out each well remembered 
spot, each favorite nook and retreat of boyhood, but 
from these I turn to the strange faces around me, and 
feeling myself a stranger, I sigh for my prairie home- 
and the friends of later years. Here I confessed and 
obeyed the Lord, and here my labors in the gospel 
began. ^' 

A long, active life of this kind must have its pleas- 
ant scenes as well as those of sorrow. I find but 
few of them recorded in his writings, aside from the 
ever-present happiness of his bringing souls to Christ. 
As a token of their appreciation of his work, and of 
the estimation in which he and his wife were held b\r 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 67 

the citizens of Tecumseh, they presented them, on 
their twenty-fifth anniversary, with a beautiful silver 
set. Some of the more thoughtful, knowing the 
needs of a preacher, brought money to the amount of 
$80. This occasion was always remembered by him, 
and oftened referred to as one of the happy times in 
his life. I give his account of the affair, written for 
the press the next morning. It was headed " Mob 
Rule in Tecumseh,^^ and will serve to show to my 
readers the pleasant mood in which the event placed 
him : 

" It becomes my painful duty to record a flagrant 
infringement of individual rights, and constitutional 
guarantees, perpetrated by the usually quiet and 
order loving inhabitants of the little city where we 
have made our home for more than ten years. My- 
self and wife were the victims. On Friday — un- 
lucky day — we were lured from our home to spend 
the afternoon with a pretended friend, who we after- 
wards found to be an arch traitor, and one of the 
leading spirits in the movement inaugurated against 
us. Returning home early in the evening we found 
our house in the possession of an excited mob ! Our 
kitchen was turned into a corner grocery, and an un- 
sightly wood pile blocked up the way of retreat in 
the back yard. In response to our demand for an 
explanation, rolls of green paper were thrust upon 
us, embelished w^ith pictures of ^ De Soto discovering 
the Mississippi,' 'The Landing of Columbus,' and 
other absurd and irrelevant desig^ns! Just as though 



68 E. C. BAEEOW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

fanciful representations of these historical events on 
green paper could justify this high-handed outrage! 
Just think of it ! And this indignity was perpetrated 
both by members of the church and ^outsiders' — 
supposed friends, that we had known and loved for 
years ! Are we to submit to such treatment in silence ? 
Never, we 1 forgive and bless them ! '^ 

Writing to the Christian Pioneer, published at 
OhilHcothe, Mo., under date of January, 1866, he 
records an experience which comes in thelifeof many 
who labor for the Master. May it prove a source of 
joy to we who love to hear* the Saviour's name con- 
fessed, and a warning to those who would defer the 
all-important step of their lives: 

"A protracted meeting, *a good meeting,' the 
brethren and sisters all said; and morning and even- 
ing we met to mingle our voices in songs of praise, 
to bow in soul-felt prayer, to talk of the goodness of 
God and the joys of Heaven, and to invite sinners to 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world. Sinners crowded to the standard of our King, 
and daily the oak-crowned hills that bordered the 
winding stream, echoed back the songs of praise that 
floated upward from the bosom of the water, in which 
we buried our friends with tears of joy, and received 
them again to walk with us in the newness of life. 

"But I need not describe a good meeting to our 
brethren and sisters. Bless the Lord, O, my soul, 
and let all that is within me praise Him, that I was 
ever counted w^orthy to share the Heavenly joys of so 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 69 

many ^good meetiDgs/ But this meeting, like all 
others on earth, drew towards a close (we shall soon 
have one that never will end), and many that were 
deeply impressed, and fully convinced of their danger 
and their duty, still stood aloof and hesitated to ac- 
knowledge the Saviour. Among these I noticed a 
young lady whose intelligent countenance bore traces 
of deep mental anxiety ; and often she essayed ta 
come forward, but as often hesitated, stopped, and 
sank upon her seat, covering her tearful face with 
her hands. 

" The last invitation hymn was being sung, and,^ 
with anxiety that cannot be expressed in any of earth's 
languages, I gazed upon the moved congregation. 
My heart gave a mighty throb of joy as the young 
lady in question came boldly forward, confessed the 
Saviour in tones audible to all in the house. An 
hour later I led her down into the shining waters^ 
while the congregation sang : 

* How happy are they, 
Who the Saviour obey,' 

and as we came up out of the water she turned her 
happy face to mine and said, ^ I am so glad I have 
obeyed the Saviour, and perhaps it was my last 
opportunity ; before another meeting I may be num- 
bered with the dead.' Were her words prophetic? 
They had almost faded from memory's tablets when 
I revisited the place. It was her last opportunity f 
the sound of an invitation hymn never again fell upon 
her ear, and in three weeks from the day of her obe- 



70 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

dience, they bore her body to the silent city of the 
dead, and I trust the angels escorted her freed spirit 
to realms of endless day. And now I never stand 
before an audience and make my last appeal without 
thinking that it may be the last oj)portunity to some 
who are saying, ^Go thy way for this time, when I 
have a more convenient season ' I will obey the 
Saviour. God says, 'Now is the accepted time,' and 
let all the heralds that stand upon the walls of Zion 
cry mightily, Now, Now is the accepted time. 
Now is the day of salvation/' 

And now we turn from these scenes of joy and 
sorrow, victory and disappointment, peace and pros- 
perity, with the gospel of Jesus Christ triumphant in 
our state; from the man of strong body and mind 
who did so much to bring into the church the 16,000 
souls in Nebraska, to E,. C. Barrow in his decline and 
last days, to the stealthy approach of death ; to the 
weakened body; to his last hours upon earth; to 
hear the angels singing a glad song over the return 
of a poor wanderer to his eternal reward. 



PART III. 

LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 



My father's illuess did not begin in a day. For 
many years before his death he was a constant suf- 
ferer. The seeds of death were sown long before he 
experienced any great pain. They were sown in long 
rides over the prairies on horseback and in open 
vehicles, before the advent of the railroads, through 
blinding snow, chilly winds, descending rains, and 
burning suns ; by his utter disregard for himself 
when a duty was to be performed for the Master. 
The icy breath of winter's wind, laden with sleet and 
snow, could not turn him from his course ; nor could 
burning sun or pouring rain keep him from his ap- 
pointments. He was always there, no matter what 
the weather. 

While holding a meeting in the western part of the 
state some two years before his death, as he sat in the 
house talking to the members of the family, the room 
suddenly became darkened to him. His eyes were 
open, but he was unable to see. He asked that the 
door be opened, and upon his request being complied 
with, he realized too truly that he was blind. The 
spell only lasted for a few moments, yet it foretold of 
the dreadful disease which was slowly, yet neverthe- 

(71) 



72 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

less silently and surely, closing its deadly grip upon 
his life. 

Yet when time for service came he was in the pul- 
pit, and continued the meeting to its close. Yet I 
could see by his actions when at home that he was 
not the man of a few years before. He would come 
home from a month's meeting, tired, worn and weary. 
We would persuade him to stay at home for a week 
or two and rest, and sometimes would gain his con- 
sent, but after he had been in the house a while and 
read his letters, he was sure to make up his mind to 
leave the next day. Some brother or sister would 
write about the church, how they needed him, and 
how the cause could be helped by his coming at once. 
This always settled the matter. What if the body 
was full of pain? What if the tired feet were 
weary and needed rest? What if the eyes were 
heavy and swollen from constant use? Did not the 
Master call? And to-morrow would come, and with 
it would go our father, to be absent from his family 
for another month. His only rest was when at work. 
His life and soul were wrapped up in it, and to be 
home idle when the Master called made him uneasy. 
This is the cause of his early taking off. 

It was while helping Bro. Winters at a meeting 
at Red Cloud that the first of his last illness was 
noticeable. He had about half finished the sermon 
when he was seized with another spell of blindness. 
A dizzy sensation crept over him and he felt unable 
to stand. He asked the brethren to place a chair 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 73 

near him, as he could not keep on his feet. Willing 
hands soon seated him on a chair on the platform, 
when he said: ^^ Brethren, I fear that this will be 
the last sermon I shall ever preach. Once before I 
experienced something like this, only in less degree. 
May the blessed Lord preserve and keep you together, 
that we may meet again around the throne of God 
at the last great day.'^ Bro. Winters finished the 
sermon, my father closed with an earnest exhortation, 
and two responded. 

There was scarcely a person in the house who did 
not shed tears of sorrow and sympathy for him. Sad 
were the hearts of the brethren that night. His heart 
was sad, but not because of himself. He thought the 
time had come when he could do no more for his 
Master. He was sad because he saw a greater work 
than ever to accomplish, and his life going out be- 
fore he could do it. 

I shall never forget the day he came home from, 
that meeting. Pale and careworn, with a rather dull 
expression in his eyes, I could see that something out, 
of the usual line had transpired, and his face caused 
me to anticipate what had happened. After telling 
us about it his only comment was: "It spoiled the 
meeting.^' No thought of self; no consideration for- 
his physical sufferings — only of the children of men 
away from the fold of Christ. 

He never sufficiently recovered from this attack to 
hold another meeting. Several times he improved,, 
and made up his mind to do so, but when the time 
6 



74 E. C. BARROAV: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

came he was still weak and unable to go. He 
preached two sermons at Bethany, but was very w^eak 
and hardly able to stand. 

From this time on he grew worse. The dread dis- 
ease, dropsy, settled in his limbs until they swelled 
to twice their natural size. He resolved to go to the 
mineral springs at Burlington Junction, Mo., which he 
did. For a while here he was very bad, suffering in- 
tense pain. He gave up all hope of ever getting well. 
My mother went to him there and remained with him 
constantly during his stay at that place. His eldest 
son, Merris, came from Wyoming to see him and 
found him very low, with scarcely any hope of re- 
covery. My father was considerably cheered by this 
visit. Merris encouraged him and talked to him 
until he grew more hopeful, and from this on he 
began to improve. I shall always remember tlie day 
I met him at the springs. The baths had reduced the 
swelling in his limbs, and their severity had left him 
weakened and feeble. I came in late one afternoon, 
and found him in bed, with mother by his side. He 
was suffering severe agony from his teeth, and with 
such pain in his stomach as to literally double him up. 
He had not slept for two days and nights. The doc- 
tor applied a battery to him, but with no relief. As 
a last resort he gave him something to cause sleep, 
and in a little while he was sleeping soundly. 

He was better the next day and began to improve 
rapidly. Several times he ventured to walk out with 
me and once to play croquet with the doctor and my- 
self. 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 75 

The swelling in his limbs all gone, and almost free 
from pain, he left the springs and came home, feeling 
that in a few weeks he would be able to commence 
work again. Bat alas for frail humanity! The 
twenty-third annual state meeting was held at Beth- 
any shortly after, and he not only went once and read 
his report, but despite his weak condition, attended 
every day session of the convention. This exertion 
proved too much for him, and he began to experience 
severe pain again. He thought a change of air would 
be beneficial to him. He and mother then went to 
Wyoming, and visited their son Merris for sometime. 

He received much benefit from this trip, and I 
think if he had taken better care of himself he might 
have lived to enjoy life for some time. His was not 
an idle nature. When he was at home he must be 
doing something. Returning from Wyoming, he 
found the weeds had grown up around the house, and 
he must mow them. Some trees had died, and he 
must needs plant others in their places, and so on. 
He worked at home and did not take proper rest, 
which soon placed him in a condition where he could 
not work. 

Then came a long spell of sickness, in which he 
suffered terribly. The dropsy came back and in a 
new and worse form. At times it was difficult for 
him to breathe, and it became necessary for some one 
to fan him vigorously in order to let him breathe 
more easily. 

He was not without assistance or sympathy. 



76 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Every day many kind friends would come to see if 
they could be of service, bringing delicacies of which 
he dared not taste. Brother and Sister Dillon had 
rooms across the street, and they were in every 
day doing much to cheer our father, and assist in his 
comfort. Brethren Dungan, Aylsworth, and others, 
were frequent visitors, who, by their tender Christian 
sympathy, made the world seem brighter, the suffer- 
ing less severe, and added much to his peace of mind. 

While sitting at his side, he would often relate to 
me tales of his boyhood and of his hard experiences 
in life. His greatest desire was that I should secure 
a college education, so that I should be able to meet 
life under more favorable circumstances, and often 
said if that were completed he would not have much 
more to live for. Many were the lessons he taught 
me, which, with God's help, I have tried to profit by. 

Well I remember the Thursday before he died. 
The bright sun shone in the window at his side, a 
flock of birds were hopping about on the ground out- 
side, and the earth looked beautiful. ^'The world 
looks so beautiful this morning,^' he said, ^' but it 
does not seem as though I belong to it. It seems like 
I am in a new world. It never looked so beautiful to 
me before. Yet I know that I have only a few days 
to stay in it." His voice seemed full of sadness. He 
had never thought of the beauty of the world during 
his busy life — only of his work — and now that he 
was about to leave it, it shone its brightest. 

Yet through all of his illness, amid all the suffer- 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 77 

ing and agony of his last days, never a word of com- 
plaint passed his lips. ^^The Lord has created me, 
let Him work His pleasure in me," was often said. 
He had no regrets other than for his family and 
friends — he was ready. No one who watched over 
such a life, saw its changes come and go, felt sorrow 
for his agony, sympathy for his suffering, could ever 
doubt the truth of Christianity. Through all his 
illness he showed the spirit of the great Master whom 
he loved. If Christianity had no more in it than to 
give me that patience in suffering, peace of mind, 
and hope of future reward for suffering here, which 
he experienced, it would be worth the living. 

On Thursday evening a few of the brethren met 
at the house to break bread — fearing that the time 
would soon come when he could not partake of those 
emblems. My father lying upon a couch, mother 
and I sitting by his side, and the brethren seated 
around us, they sang: 

" How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. 
What more can He say than to you He has said, 
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled. 

In every condition, in sickness, in health, 
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth. 

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, 

As your days may demand so your succor shall be." 

He was a monument to that firm foundation. He 
could realize the truth of that song, and in him was 
living proof as to its correctness. He had long been 



78 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

on that firm fouDdation and had sought refuge at the 
feet of Jesus. He knew the Lord had been with him 
in all his works, and that He was now with him to 
be his comforter. 

Bro. Aylsworth offered a prayer, after which the 
communion was partaken of. Then they sang: 

' ' My faith looks up to Thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary, 
Saviour divine." 

He tried faintly to join in this song, only uttering 
the words in a whisper. No one ever had a better 
right to sing this blessed hymn. His faith in the 
Lamb of Cavalry had supported him in every trial, 
and now that he was about to lay down his life, his 
faith caused him to cling more and more to the Sav- 
iour. 

A short prayer asking God's blessing closed the 
sad scene, and after comforting words from the breth- 
ren, the company departed. 

My father seemed to be greatly strengthened by 
this meeting, and he said after they had gone that he 
could more easily bear the pain now than before. 

On Friday he had to have assistance in dressing, 
and I could see that he was slowly weakening. He 
did not talk much, only about how his affairs should 
be arranged after his death. In the evening he said : 
" I am not sure that I shall live till morning.'^ His 
breath was coming short, and with great difficulty. 
Yet he slept a very little that night. 

He did not sit at table with us next morning 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 79 

— the first time he had missed during his illness — 
but lay on his couch. He rested comparatively easy 
until about 4 o^clock, when he had a bad spell. He 
could scarcely get his breath. As this came on him, 
I was sitting by his side fanning him, Avhile my poor 
mother, who had not slept at all the night before, 
was seated in a chair trying to rest. She and I 
worked with father until about 7 o'clock, when Sis- 
ter Dillon and others came in. A physician was 
sent for, who, when he came, told us he could live 
but a few hours. 

At twenty minutes of 8 his pain seemed to leave 
him, and he sat up and smiled at us all. Then one 
by one he bade us good-bye, with tears in his eyes. 
His countenance, which had been so contorted with 
pain, looked as though he was not suffering. As the 
last one was bade good-bye, he took a violent fit of 
coughing and between his coughs he said '^ good-bye.^' 
I sat beside him, supporting him with my arms as he 
coughed. '^ Good-bye,'^ came from his dear lips, 
when his head fell upon my shoulder, the eyes gen- 
tly closed, the hands fell at his side, and the great 
soul took its flight — leaving but the poor clay in my 
embrace. His great heart, which had beaten so long 
in sympathy for the followers of the Master, had 
ceased to beat. The lips that had spoken words of 
life and encouragement to many hearts were forever 
stilled. 

I do not remember exactly what followed. I could 
not realize that he was dead. It was only in the last 



80 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

few years of his life that I had beeu at home to see 
him and appreciate his worth. Every disappoint- 
ment I had caused him in my youth, every annoyance 
came to my mind with startling force. But as I 
looked upon the silent form I realized that no more 
reparation could be made. In his long sickness I 
had been with him so much I could not think of 2:iv- 
ing him up. I refused to let any one except my 
cousin, Charles Finch, watch over his body with me 
until it shoulil reach its last resting place. My 
mother, worn out with a year of sleepless nights in 
the care of him, went to a neighbor's to try and gain 
a little rest, for the trial that was to come. 

Several times that night I reverently approached 
the bier and gazed upon my father. His face, that 
was wont to be contorted with pain, now looked as 
peaceful as though he were asleep. Too true ! But 
asleep in Jesus. Free from all the pain of this life, 
away from sorrow, he was at rest. 

In the beautiful cemetery at Tecumseh, on a hill 
overlooking the place where he had so long lived, we 
laid our father, to wait the great day of the Lord. 
And as I look to-day upon that silent grave, and 
think of all the hours of suffering and agony he en- 
dured, I shed tears — not of regret — but of joy, that 
our father, who lived so long to bear the pain and 
suffering, is now released from it, and mingles with 
the faithful who sit at the mercy seat of God, sing- 
ing praises to His name. And as the earth hides 
from view all that remains upon earth of my father 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 81 

— leaving the poor, lifeless form in darkness and 
solitude to return to the dust from whence it came — 
visions of a dark river rise before me, whose further 
bank is brilliant with the light of the eternal city, 
and I hear the voice of the Master saying: *' Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord." 

And may we learn a lesson from his character, that 
if we would enjoy life, if we, who look forward to 
the hour of death with fear and trembling, will do 
as he did — give our lives to the true service of Jesus 
Christ — we learn to look upon death as but a release 
from the cares of this world and a going into that 
eternal abode where God and the angels bid the faith- 
ful welcome. 

May God help us so to live that, when we die, 
it shall be said of us, as it was of him : "A man of 
Ood has gone to his rest." 



82 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 



"Fallen — on Zion's battle-field, 

A soldier of renown, 
Armed in the panoply of God, 

In conflict cloven down ! 
His helmet on, his armor bright, 

His cheek unblanched with fear — 
While round his head there gleamed a light^ 

His dying hour to cheer. 

* ' Fallen — while cheering with his voice 

The sacramental host, 
With banners floating in the air — 

Death found him at his post. 
In life's high prime the warfare closed. 

But not ingloriously ; 
He fell beyond the outer wall, 

And shouted, Victory ! 

"Fallen — a holy man of God, 

An Israelite indeed, 
A standard-bearer of the cross, 

Mighty in word and deed — 
A master-spirit of the age, 

A bright and burning light. 
Whose beams across the firmament 

Scattered the clouds of night. 

"Fallen — as sets the sun at eve, 

To rise in splendor, where 
His kindred luminaries shine, 

Their heaven of bliss to share. 
Beyond the stormy battle-field 

He reigns in triumph now, 
Sweeping a harp of wondrous song.. 

With glory on his brow! " 



PAET lY. 

MEMORIAL SEEVICE AT LINCOLN. 



At the memorial services held in the Central Chris- 
tian church, Lincoln, Nebraska, the following letters 
were read : 

I wish to add mj mite to the reminiscences of Bro. 
Barrow. In the midwinter of 1881-2, when the 
thermometer registered 24 below zero, Bro. Barrow 
came into my hotel for dinner. I offered to assist him 
in unwrapping, but he said he could not take off his 
overcoat, as he had no other on. He said the man 
who brought him to the depot was so poorly clad 
that he gave him his coat to keep the poor man from 
freezing. May we all be as faithful as our departed 
brother. W. W. Fostek. 

Eshridge, Kan. 



I have learned of the death of dear Bro. Barrow 
with profound regret. I condole with the brethren 
and family most sincerely on the sad event, and if 
sympathy of friends can be of any consolation under 
the trying circumstances, be assured that all who knew 
him share in your sorrow for his loss, Bro. Barrow 
immersed me twenty years ago. I worked with him 

(83) 



84 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

for years in meetings, and know his true worth. 
There is, however, a higher source of consolation than 
earthly friendship, and commending you to that, I 
remain your brother in Christ, 

Silverton, Ore. F. O. McCauley, 



I see you will hold memorial services in honor of 
dear Bro. Barrow. When you speak, say to the 
friends that I, who knew him so long, so intimately, 
so truly, join them in spirit, if I cannot in person, on 
that occasion, and in all that will be said. Gladly 
would I add my humble tribute to the memory of a 
name long so dear, a life so heroic in burden-bearing, 
whose soul was chastened by sorrow, and whose heart 
was full of forbearance and love. Few men knew 
him better than I, and of him I would freely say, I 
never personally knew a preacher who suffered more 
for the cause of Christ, and who loved it better, than 
Bro. Barrow. No man can fill his place, for he left 
none to fill. God sent him to Nebraska to do a spe- 
cial work. He did that work, and it was well done, 
as you and I well know. Then the Father took him 
home. I rejoice that He did, for it is better to be 
with Christ when the battle is fought and the victory 
won, than here in the body. When the evening of 
the 11th comes, I will join with you in this city, in 
tenderly remembering our dear co-laborer, whose life 
to us was a sacred heritage, whose works are our rich 
legacy, and pray that when you and I have finished 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AT LINCOLN. 85 

our course, we may meet again on the banks of the 
River of Life, and know and love and live forever 
together. N. B. Alley. 

Eugene, Ore. 

I first met Bro. E. C. Barrow at Rock Bluffs, Nebr.^ 
in I^ovember, 1865, just after my return home from 
the war. The day I saw him first he baptized ten 
persons. After that day I met Bro. Barrow many 
times, and heard him preach. I had organized the 
congregation at Rock Bluffs, in 1862, and had 
preached for a year. After that Brethren Dungan, 
Vogle, and others preached there. Bro. Barrow held 
a number of successful protracted meetings for the 
church there. The town has gone down, and the 
congregation has ceased to meet, but the work done 
there still goes on. Many who were converted there, 
like Bro. Barrow, have gone home, others have scat- 
tered over ISTebraska and become the nucleus of other 
churches. The last time I met our dear departed 
brother was at Greenwood in 1880, when I was pas^ 
tor of the church there. The last letter I received 
from him was dated June 20, 1890, requesting me to 
ordain his son Frank to the ministry while he was in 
Keokuk. I have known much of Bro. Barrow's 
work, and the sacrifices he made while ''contending 
earnestlv for the faith once delivered to the saints " 
and I can say that he was one of the most devoted and 
God-fearing men I ever met. I believe that the 
work he did for the Master in the last thirty years 



S6 E. C. BAEROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

is unsurpassed by any other man among the Disciples. 
Dear brother, thou hast gone to thy reward, and we 
hope to meet beyond the storms and trials of this 
life, in the Heaven of eternal rest, where God shall 
wipe every tear from our eyes. 

Keokuk, la. James Conxoran. 



If to "live in the hearts we leave behind'^ is a 
mark of greatness, then R. C. Barrow was truly a great 
man. Not as a mighty warrior, and yet he was a 
valiant soldier. Not as a mighty orator, and yet he 
was an orator of no mean ability. Not as a states- 
man, and yet his statesmanship was broader than 
earth itself Not as a financier, and yet his bank ac- 
count was beyond the reach of moth and rust. For 
twelve years I was intimately acquainted with our de- 
ceased brother, and I found him great in unselfishness, 
in Godliness, in loving kindness. I have known few 
indeed who loved their brethren so much as Bro. 
Barrow, and yet he loved his God and Saviour more. 
He believed the " gospel of Christ was the power 
of God unto salvation," and he preached it as though 
he believed it. He had no confidence in the wishy- 
washy sentimentalism of the day so much relied upon 
by modern evangelists. He believed that if people 
were converted by the gospel instead of by and to 
men, there would not be so many apostasies. In this 
he was an example we younger preachers may well 
follow. But our dear brother is gone from earth^s 
fellowship, into the presence of the Infinite Father. 



MEMOEIAL SERVICE AT LINCOLN. 87 

As the tried and true, though tired, frame finds re- 
pose in death, the spirit, sanctified through earth's 
afflictions, goes to God who gave it. Could we call 
him back, unless we could rehabilitate him with new 
physical powers, we would not do it. Sleep, brother, 
and enjoy thy well-earned rest. You have exchanged 
suffering for rest. 

" Out of darkness into sunshine. 
Out of sorrow into bliss. 
Out of prison into freedom. 
Into Heaven life, out of this." 

Pleasantville^ la. J. H. Stark. 



Though far away on this Pacific shore, tidings 
from the sick chamber have been constantly waited 
for with profound interest. At last the weary suf- 
ferer is at rest. I have lost a friend. Who will call 
me " beloved Brother Johnson'^ now ? For nearly 
a quarter of a century was I associated with Bro. 
Barrow in the work of the ministry. At the first 
R. C. Barrow, D. E.. Dungan, and myself were the 
only Christian preachers in Nebraska devoting our- 
selves exclusively to the ministry. Now the grand 
old warrior who has done so much for our cause in 
that state has fallen, but he has fallen like the hero 
that he was, with his armor on and his face turned 
toward the foes of truth and right. In the old days 
he frequently drove across the prairies to Unadilla, 
enduring the summer's heat or facing the winter's 
storm, and leaving the ponies in my care he would 



88 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

take the traiu to some far away appointment. Id 
later years he often alluded tenderly to his wife, some- 
times using such words as " Mrs. Barrow is fading, but 
I do not forget in whose service she is fading/' Some- 
times, alluding to coming age or death, the tear drops 
would fall like rain at a word concerning lack of pro- 
visions for the self-sacrificing wife. Knowing his feel- 
ings in regard to this matter, the writer introduced into 
the state convention a resolution to continue his pay in 
sickness or health until his death. And the resolution 
was unanimously adopted by the generous brethren of 
Nebraska. Now his worn out body slumbers beneath 
the sod at Tecumseh. That grave may be deluged by 
summer's rain, swept by autumnal winds, or covered 
by winter's snow. He heeds it not. He is not there* 
His deathless spirit is in the kingdom of God. Let 
us think of him as in a better land. 

Salem, Ore. J. B. Johnson. 



I want to repeat now what I said at the state meet- 
ing at Dorchester in 1880, when the outlook for the 
work in Nebraska was so gloomy, and, at Lincoln in 
particular, so discouraging. After the reading of 
Bro. Barrow's report, seeing that it was about to be 
passed upon without comment, I remarked publiily 
that few present could appreciate the personal devotion 
and labor expended to make such a report possible; 
that only after years had passed and the time had re- 
vealed the fruit of seed sown by Bro. Barrow, could 



MEMOEIAL SERVICE AT LINCOLN. 89 

we realize what a work he was doing. We were then 
comparatively strangers to each other personally^ but 
I remember the tears which bedewed his face as he 
took my hand and thanked me for what I had said. 
You know the protracted meetings he helped us in 
during the stormy February and March of 1881, at 
Lincoln. It was against a strong opposition that I 
employed him, as you know. I refer to this because 
of two things : First, he had told me some months 
before, " Bro. Schwartz, I can give you no encourage- 
ment in your Lincoln work. Abler men than you 
have tried it and failed.^' During that meeting his 
faith in the work at Lincoln was restored, and when 
some of his warmest personal friends took occasion to 
show their chagrin at the success of the meeting, he 
said, "Bro. Schwartz, I am sad to know that some, 
whom I love should so far forget the words of the 
Master as to manifest such a spirit.^^ He was frank, 
even at times to bluntness, but he had a noble heart, 
and his personal likes and dislikes, so far as I know, 
never obtruded themselves upon the interests of the 
church. K. W. E. Schwartz. 

New Orleans, La. 

I see you are to have a memorial service in Lin- 
coln in honor of K. C. Barrow, lately deceased. I 
am unwilling to allow the event to pass without a 
tribute from the General Christian Missionary Con- 
vention, so far as I may be regarded as a paper repre- 
sentative, of its interest in the occasion and its appre- 
7 



90 R. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

elation of the valuable services of one of our most 
efficient missionaries. R. C. Barrow was first em- 
ployed by our Board in 1866, and continued more or 
less in our service until near the close of 1887. In 
his first annual report in 1867 he says : *' I have trav- 
eled during the year about 2,500 miles on horseback, 
visited several hundred families, giving religious in- 
struction, preached 217 discourses, gained 178 addi- 
tions, organized three new congregations, and assisted 
in the organization of several Sunday schools. One 
good house of worship has been erected at London, 
and we have made arrangements to build at Tecum- 
seh. Houses will be erected at several places during 
the coming year." At the close of the second year 
he reports about the same results, and adds : " Upon 
the whole, we have reason to thank God and take 
courage. When Bro. Dungan and I began our labors 
here, three or four years ago, there was not over three 
or four hundred Disciples in the territory. Now we 
have twenty-two congregations, and over 2,000 mem- 
bers, with public sentiment decidedly in our favor.^' 
For the next year, 1869, he reports about the same 
results, and says : "The cause is prosperous through- 
out the state. Two fine churches have been opened 
during the year. Another in process of construction 
at Tecumseh, and arrangements are being made for 
another at Lincoln, the capital of the state." The 
next year his report is almost a duplicate of those of 
the past years. Bro. Dungan was associated with him 
in all this work. The number of churches in 1871 



MEMOEIAL SERVICE AT LINCOLN". 91 

had increased to thirty-five. During the next ten 
years the General Board was experimenting under 
what was called the Louisville plan, and aside from 
stimulating the states to greater efficiency in organized 
methods, did little in the direct support of home mis- 
sionary work. Hence Nebraska was left with all the 
rest of the new west, to struggle alone against mighty 
odds in sectarian ranks, and that, too, at a time when 
one dollar would have accomplished more than ten 
dollars will to-day. In 1878 Bro. Barrow was again 
employed by the Board, and continued his services 
until 1887. In his last report he says : " During the 
year I have preached 340 sermons, organized two 
churches, dedicated one house, ordained one preacher, 
assisted in locating five pastors, baptized 102 persons, 
received 87 accessions otherwise, assisted 26 churches 
by visits and meetings, held 27 conferences with 
church officers, and raised |1,200 for local work. The 
General Board enabled us, in the beginning, to plant 
the first churches in the territory, and in later years 
to reach into the new fields, constantly opening up 
on our western border. Our connection with the Gen- 
eral Society has been a golden link to bind us to the 
great brotherhood east of the Missouri river, and warm 
prayerful hearts and open purses have helped us in our 
labors, until we have become a great people in our 
own state — numbering not less than 12,000 souls. 
We have about 150 congregations, 85 preachers, 85 
houses of worship, aggregating in value about $169,- 
000, and yet a large portion of our state is still mis- 



92 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

sionary ground, and it remains for us to push our 
conquest westward to the Colorado border, with the 
advancing tide of emigration/^ You will see that 
the biography of R. C. Barrow for the past thirty 
years is also the cause of primitive Christianity, as 
plead by the Disciples of Christ in Nebraska. We 
sometimes say statistics are dry and uninteresting to 
the average reader. Yet there are many who know 
the labor, and struggle, and trial, and sacrifice which 
make a good statistical showing possible, and there 
are many whose experience in the field, and especially 
in a pioneer field, who can clothe the dry bones of 
statistics with a vitality that makes them speak most 
eloquently of the character, and spirit, and consecra- 
tion, and perseverance, and endurance of such heroic 
missionaries as Bro. R. C. Barrow proved himself to 
be. He was a man of strong faith — faith in possi- 
bilities, faith in the gospel as the power of God, faith 
in God — '^ above all, in all, and through all.^' He 
preached the Word because he believed it "profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruc- 
tion in righteousness.'' He " shunned not to declare 
the whole counsel of God.'' It was not to him a 
question whether men would be pleased or displeased 
with the Word of God. He sought not the honors 
which came from men, " but the honor that cometh 
from God only." I had but a slight formal ac- 
quaintaince with Bro. Barrow. I have no way of 
judging the man except by the fruits of his earnest 
life for the Master, and judging from this, I can only 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AT LINCOLN. 93 

say of hira as Luke says of Baruabas, '^He was a 
good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. ^' From 
the human standpoint, we say his place cannot 
be filled. From a divine standpoint, his place need 
not be filled. He served his generation. He did a 
work which no other could have done so well in his 
day. Stephen served his time, and was the kind 
needed for the first martyr, but God soon called the 
very man who consented to his death into a larger 
work which Stephen could not have done so well as 
Saul of Tarsus. Jesus Christ is with His church, 
and He will see that the work of the church goes on, 
no matter how many fall, nobly or ignobly, by the 
way. We make lamentation over this new-made 
grave, but not long, for our sorrov/ soon turns to joy 
in the thought that another fellow-traveler has 
struggled safely through this world of labor, and 
tears, and trials, and pain, and sin, and temptation, 
up and on to the light of God where all tears are for- 
ever wiped from their eyes. " Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord. * * * They rest from their 
labors and their works follow with them.'^ Paul 
says of Abel that " he being dead, yet speaketh.^^ 
So may we say of Bro. Barrow, that his works follow 
with him — not only what he wrought out for the 
Master with his own hands, but also the indirect re- 
sults of his labors, multiplying themselves over and 
over again through all the ages to come. ^' Though 
dead, he speaketh " by the converts he won to Christ, 
by the children and children's children of these cou- 



94 E. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

verts, by the words spoken by him which still riug 
in unconverted ears, and may yet bring them to the 
cross, by the influence of a holy and consecrated life, 
by the influence which he set in motion, like the tiny 
wavelet which widens and widens till it reaches the 
further shore, by the counsels for good at the fireside, 
and for peace and activity in the church, by the 
voices of men who have been called by him into the 
ministry, and by the memory of those who have been 
comforted by his tender sympathy in hours of sick- 
ness and sorrow. The Lord make his life a legacy 
to the church, richer far than gold or silver. 

R. MOFFETT, 

Cleveland, 0. Cor. Sec. G. C. M. C. 



MEMOEIAL SEEVICE AT LINCOLN. 95 



A TEIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF R. C. BARROW. 



URSULA WILES ERRETT. 



" The parted spirit, 
Knoweth it not our sorrow ? Answereth not 
Its blessings to our tears?" 

Tired hands from labors borne, 

Lie still on a pulseless breast ? 

Feet all weary and travel- worn, 

That fain would have served Him, ah, many a morn, 

Lie still in their last long rest. 

One never weary in serving the Lord, 

One always ready to go at His word. 

Has gone with the ransomed to claim his reward, 

And live ever more with the blest. 

That one so beloved, so dear to us all, 

Whose voice seems to echo, even now in this hall 

Will ne'er greet us more on this earth. 

Even now he seems singing in tones sweet and low, 

"I am thinking of home, I am homesick now. 

And my. spirit doth long to be 

In that far better land, where the saints ever sing 

Of the love of Christ — the Redeemer and King, 

And of mercies so costly and free." 

Ah! who of his brethren have not heard this song 

Come from his lips and his soul, as along 

The rough pathway of life he has trod, 

Toiling and praying to lead men to God ? 

Have you heard it, dear brother ? Dear sister, have you ? 

Can you hear the sweet story as he told it to you ? 

Of the babe in the manger — the Risen Lord, 

And led you to strive to reap the reward 

That comes to the faithful — yes, comes afterwhile. 

Sweet fragrance, like that from a dropping rose; 

Sweet music, like which no earthly choir knows; 



96 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Flows forth from this life — flows forth at its fall 

Before the rude blow that must come to us all. 

Oh, bright ray of hope, as it breaks through the cloud. 

And speaks loving cheer in spite of the shroud, 

And the pall and the bier 

Through great tribulation you may come as did I, 

And share in the joys of the God, the Most High. 

The voice of our brother through ages shall ring, 

And thousands of souls through his influence shall sing 

Glad songs of redemption with him and the King. 

Take heed how you sow! As you sow shall you reap. 

Oh what a joy — a real joy, while we weep, 

To know that our brother is only asleep — 

To know that the victory is his, and not death's — 

That his harvest is happiness, heaven, and rest. 



PART Y, 

MEMORIAL SERVICE AT TECUMSEH. 



It is thought best to give an account of the me- 
morial services held in the Christian church at Tecum- 
seh, this being Bro. Barrow's home for so many 
years. Sister Frownfelter, to whom we are indebted 
for this report, was chosen by the church to make a 
record of this service. Following is the report : 

There is one peculiarity of this service that speaks 
well for our dead, and that is, that almost every con- 
gregation felt that, for some particular reason, it was 
more fitting that it should keep this service than any 
other congregation. We in Tecumseh, felt that we 
should, of all others, hold a service in memory of our 
more than brother. And while we had no set pro- 
gram, we had several papers, a number of extempo- 
raneous speeches, and old songs that Bro. Barrow 
loved in the first days of his work in Nebraska. 

Bro. J. A. Dillon was chosen chairman, and gave 
a very interesting talk in regard to the steadfastness 
of Bro. Barrow's character, his nobility of mind, and 
that from his earliest acquaintance with him, he had 
the respect and esteem of the whole community. He 
«aid at one time, while Bro. Barrow's home was still 

(97) 



98 E. C. BAEROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

in Brownville, that on one of his visits here, one of 
the merchants wished to send a large sum of money 
by him to the bank at Brown ville, saying to him as 
he handed him the money: '^ Elder, it is not your 
Christianity that makes me trust you, but your hon- 
esty.^^ Bro. Barrow said: ^'Sir, you are mistaken^ 
It is my Christianity that makes me honest/' And 
this may have given rise to his preaching one of the 
best practical sermons it is said that he ever preached* 
Taking for his subject the old saying: *^ Honesty is 
the best policy/^ he scored the policy part in just 
such a way as he alone was capable of doing. 

Bro. Phillips spoke of his just dealings with them 
in times when crops were bad, that he asked no rent 
for his land. At times when he hired workmen at 
their own price, he would think that he was not pay- 
ing enough, and would pay them more than they 
asked. If a man who owed him became so poor that 
he could not pay that which he owed, he forgave the 
debt. And these dealings that he began in the first 
days of his ministry, when with the most rigid econ- 
omy it was a hard struggle for he and his faithful 
wife to care for their little family, were continued 
through life. 

Bro. Robins testified to the fact that Bro. Barrow 
was the first one he ever heard preach the gospel of 
Jesus Christ in its simplicity. That he, as well a& 
others, had been taught by him to rightly divide the 
word of truth, and to look for natural instead of 
supernatural effects to come from the Living Word». 



MEMOEIAL SERVICE AT TECUMSEH. 99 

Sister Mary Bivens, one of the oldest members of 
our congregation, told us that when Bro. Barrow 
came first to Tecumseh to preach he could find no 
place to hold meetings. They then lived on the west 
side of what is now our beautiful court house square 
in a little log cabin. They had just built a kitchen* 
Bro. Barrow and Bro. Douglas came to ask permis- 
sion to hold a few days' meeting in the kitchen. Tihs 
she granted, and some time in June, 1865, the first 
gospel sermons were given to Tecumseh people in 
this little log house. Shortly after this a school 
house was built north of what is now the Chicago 
lumber yard, and there the meetings were held after- 
wards. Sister Bivens was the first one in Tecumseh 
who obeyed the gospel and was buried in baptism by 
Bro. Barrow. With her family, under their clap- 
board roof was his home, and he ate at their table 
until a number more were added to the faithful band, 
who were glad to have his Christian companionship 
in their homes. He taught her little boy to sing that 
beautiful song, of which he may know the meaning 
now, '' What Must it Be to be There." This was 
sung some time after at the same child's funeral. The 
congregation was organized by Bro. Barrow some time 
in the year 1866. 

Sister McKee, a Presbyterian lady, said that in 
1865 she came to Tecumseh. Being hungry for 
Christian company she heard of this little meeting 
in the log cabin, and went. There she met Bro. and 
Sister Barrow, and had ever since been bound to them 



L.OT V/, 



100 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

and our little congregation by the cords of Christian 
love. She testified to his purity of life, and said that 
in all of her work as chairman of the temperance 
work in Tecumseh, that he was her most valued ad- 
visor; that in questions of great importance she had 
waited days at a time for his return, that she might 
have his advice. And we all who have worked for 
whisky-trodden Tecumseh know that some of the 
greatest victories that the cause ever gained were 
achieved by following his wise counsel. 

Bro. Bennett spoke of his quiet Christian example, 
and reminded us that though dead, Bro. Barrow still 
lived in his works. That he had only pushed aside 
the vail and stood on the other side. 

Sister Dillon told us of the peaceful going out of 
this blessed life, of the purifying influence of his last 
■days upon earth upon those who surrounded his dying 
bed, and of his especial care of and prayer for those 
of his household who were unconverted. 

Bro. George Harmon said : '^ I knew Bro. Barrow 
when he first came to Missouri over a quarter of a 
century ago. His first preaching was done in my 
home. He was always a grand, good man, and I 
wonder that he and Bro. Duugan didn't convert the 
world, they were such a power together." 

For my own part, the last days with Bro. Barrow 
were the best days. In all his intense agony he was 
so far above and beyond us. His words seemed to 
oome from the other side of the river, so full of faith 
and trust were they. He had always been a trusty 



MEMOEIAL SEKVICE AT TECUMSEH. 101 

adviser, and whether spoken or silent, when we went 
to him he was always found on the right side, and 
his wise counsel, if always heeded, would have saved 
many a heart-ache. To know Bro. Barrow in his 
home was to love him, and best of all he never 
wearied in well doing — showing us to the last that it 
is worth while to work a lifetime in the Master^s 
vineyard. For 

" He was ready for the Bridegroom, 
When he comes, when he comes. 

He knew he was coming, 

He longed for his coming 

And was robed and ready 
When the Bridegroom came. 

" May we all be as ready 

When he comes, when he comes. 

Our lamps all trimmed and burning, 
When he comes, when he comes. 

May all go out to meet him. 

May all go out to greet him, 

All robed and ready 

When the Bridegroom comes. ' ' 



Bro. C. p. Evans, who came here in 1854, kindly 
furnished the following account of the earlier strug- 
gle for the Master in Nebraska, which will be read 
with interest: 

My first acquaintance with Nebraska work was in 
the winter of 1854-5. Omaha was then a small vil- 
lage, with one brick house, a few frame buildings^ 
and some sod houses. 



102 K. C. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

The first territorial legislature was held that winter 
in Omaha. Two of our brethren, Joel M. Wood 
and Richard Brown, represented Nemaha county, 
one in the house, the other in the council, as it was 
then called. Bro. Wood was a preacher of good 
ability, and did some preaching there during his stay 
in the legislature. He had also preached in Brown- 
ville, Nemaha county. I think he was the first of 
our brethren to preach in Omaha, and to the best of 
my knowledge, was the last till 1861. In that 
year a co-operation was formed embracing a few 
counties in western Iowa and a few in eastern Ne- 
braska. D. E,. Dungan, Wm. A. Denton, and C. P. 
Evans labored in that co-operation, each having the 
promise of §200 a year as a compensation. One, at 
least, of these laborers can testify that he fell far 
short of the promised amount. This work was car- 
ried as far west as Fontanelle, a village in Washing- 
ton county, near to the Elkhorn river, north to 
De Soto, in the same county, south to Bellevue, in 
Sarpy couuty, and in Douglas county. Your humble 
servant remembers well his first effort in Omaha. 
He obtained the privilege of using the basement of 
the old Congregational church, the owners, to all ap- 
pearance on their part, acting as though they thought 
they were doing a handsome thing in allowing us to 
use this dingy room. 

Bro. Piatt Saunders and Bro. Milan Hunt, with their 
excellent wives, were living in Omaha at that time. 
During the same year, through the influence of Bro. 



MEMOEIAL SERVICE AT TECUMSEH. 103 

Alvin Saunders, then governor of the territory, we 
obtained the use of an unfurnished business room on 
Douglas street, in which we held a short meeting. 
-Our work extended west through Douglas county 
into the neighborhood of a town plat called Chicago, 
near to the Elkhorn river, in which neighborhood 
some good work was done. In this community, a 
man, whose name I cannot now recall, was greatly af- 
flicted with rheumatism in the back, obliging him to 
kneel to chop his wood. This man heard the truth, 
believed and was baptized in the winter season, when 
a large amount of ice was in the river, and never af-^ 
terward had to kneel to chop his wood. This he 
told me himself. At one time while traveling in this 
<;o-operation, I was advertised to preach in a school 
house in Sarpy county. The meeting was at candle- 
lighting — lamps were not in use there in that early 
day — and on reaching the school house, but one short 
piece of candle could be found, and no candlestick. 
How to utilize this to the best advantage was now the 
question of the hour. As the weather was pleasant, 
a happy thought occurred to some one as follows : 
Drop a few drops of that tallow on the stove, set the 
candle on it, and let it harden, and thus make it stand. 
This was the only light in the room. It burned out 
before I was through and I had to finish my discourse 
in the dark. During the year I was stopping a few 
^ays in De Soto with Bro. Israel Swihart, who at that 
time was practicing medicine, but who did considera- 
ble preaching. 



104 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Bro. Swihart said to rae one day, '^ I am going out 
about a mile to see a sick child, won't you go along ?'^ 
I answered that I would. He said, ^^ I must take a 
spoon along, for they have nothing there to take raed« 
icine out of/^ I took this as a joke, but sure enough,, 
when he started, a spoon found its way into his pill 
pockets. When we reached the place he used his 
spoon in giving the sick child its medicine. The 
mother sat on a low chair, the only one to be seen. 
We sat on the door step. The child was lying on the 
floor, on a pallet made out of old clothes, folded up 
at one end, to serve as a pillow. I looked about for 
furniture, none was to be seen, no bed, bedding, nor 
clothes hanging on the wall, absolutely nothing to be 
seen but a stove, except what I have already men- 
tioned. Talk about being poor, and then say, that 
beside such a scene as this, you know nothing of pov- 
erty. 

In February, 1861, Bro. D. R. Dungan took unto 
himself a wife and concluded to become a citizen of 
Nebraska. He first located in De Soto, and from 
there went to Omaha. From Omaha he returned 
to Iowa, spending one year in Harrison and Mills- 
counties, and then returned to Nebraska, locating at 
Plattsraouth. While at Plattsmouth he received 
an appointment from the General Missionary Board 
to do evangelistic work in Nebraska. From here 
he removed to Pawnee City, Neb., and afterward to 
Lincoln, where he remained until either 1874 or 1875^ 
when he removed to Oskaloosa, Iowa. Of his grand 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AT TECUMSEH. 105 

work in Nebraska as a co-laborer with Bro. Barrow, 
it is useless for me to ^speak, as many brethren know 
its history better than myself. 

In May, 1860, I made my first visit to Platts- 
mouth, and held a meeting at the house of Bro. Isaac 
Wiles. Neither himself nor wife were then mem- 
bers of the church, but during the meeting Sister 
Wiles confessed her faith in the Son of God, and I 
baptized her in Four-Mile creek, west of Plattsmoutho 
I became the subject of quite a joke at that meeting, 
though at the expense of others. Bro. Todd, of 
sainted memory, lived in the community at that time. 
He and a Baptist brother named Gibbs agreed to 
conduct the introductory exercises on Lord's day 
morning, and as I was a stranger to nearly every- 
body present, and did not have the appearance of a 
preacher, the curious ones were wondering where the 
preacher was. In the audience was Capt. Archer 
and wife, not long from the east, where preachers 
looked like preachers. After meeting, the captain and 
wife went home with one of the brethren to dine. 
After being seated, he said : '^ Well, I never was so 
badly taken in as to-day," or language to that effect. 
" I was looking around to see the preacher, and when 
that little man got up I said to myself, ^ Well, we^ll 
hear nothing to-day.' I never was so badly fooled 
in my life." ^' Yes," said his wife, "and I said to 
myself, 'I wish I had staid at home/'' I always 
had the captain to hear me afterward. That was the 
beginning of a work that has produced grand results 
8 



106 P. O. BARROW: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

in Cass couuty, the magDitude of which cannot be 
told in this life, and will only be fully realized in the 
world to come. 

John Mullis was one of the early workers of south- 
eastern Nebraska, and did excellent work, especially 
in Nemaha county at Brownville. 

In September, 1863, in the company of Bro. John 
H. Parker, I visited Table Rock, in Pawnee county, 
and made a few discourses at the house of Bro. Lane, 
wdio then lived near to where the Methodist church 
now stands. During the same trip we held meetings 
in the school house not far from the Blacklaw mill 
east of Table Rock, and on the way visited Bro. O. J. 
Tinker, who lived near to where the town of Hum- 
boldt now stands. Little did I then think of the 
possibilities of the future of our work in Nebraska. 

I now come to my acquaintance with Bro. R. C. 
Barrow. We met first in Sidney, Iowa, in 1864, 
more than twenty-eight years ago. If my recollection 
serves me correctly, he was then living at Oregon, 
Holt county, Missouri. He was passing through, 
and stopped and preached for us one night, and we 
all fell in love with him at once. I feel humbly 
proud in saying that my love and admiration for his 
Christian heroism grew stronger to the day of his 
death. Near this time I conducted a meeting for 
some days in the Missouri river bottom in Atchiscfti 
county, Missouri, and being obliged to leave before 
the meeting should close, Bro. Barrow was sent for, 
and came, and carried the meeting through to a very 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AT TECTJMSEH. 107 

successful issue. I did not see much of him after 
that till six years ago, but through the medium of 
the press I followed him along with his work that 
he, as a missionary evangelist, carried forward so suc- 
cessfully in Nebraska. 

Once after coming to Nebraska he went back to 
Missouri and preached for the congregation at Cam- 
eron, but soon returned to Nebraska and went to the 
work of an evangelist, the work that was always 
near and dear to his heart. His engagement with 
the G. C. M. C. began in the summer of 1865, and 
continued until the summer of 1887, when the N. C. 
M. C. cut loose from the general society, and from 
that time till his departure, the Nebraska society as- 
sumed the payment of his entire salary. In Febru- 
ary, 1873, as well as I now recollect, almost eighteen 
years ago, I was called through Bro. Barrow's influ- 
ence to hold a meeting in Nemaha county, in the 
neighborhood of the Bratton postoffice, where I met 
and made the acquaintance of Bro. Shurtliff, one of 
the early workers in this part of the state, who was 
an earnest Christian, and faithful laborer in the vine- 
yard of the Lord. He, like many others, has passed 
over the dark river. 

"While I was in the meeting in the Bratton neigh- 
borhood Bro. Barrow passed through one day and 
stopped at Bro. Calvin Taylor^s, but finding no one 
at home proceeded to feed his ponies and get dinner, 
leaving a note telling Bro. Taylor he had been there. 
For a time he lived in Nemaha City, but many years 



1 08 R. C. BARROW : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

ago he moved to Tecumseb, where he continued to 
reside till about a year before his death. In the last 
six years I have met him a number of times, and have 
always found him the same loving, gentle companion, 
deeply and earnestly devoted to his life-work, ever 
manifesting great anxiety for the welfare of the cause 
of humanity, the salvation of the world through the 
mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. During the 
winter of 1887 and 1888 he had a very severe spell 
of sickness and his life was for a while despaired of, 
but he finally recovered, and he was able to continue 
his work until last winter, when he broke down in a 
grand meeting he was conducting in Red Cloud, Neb. 
From this break-down he never recovered, but suf- 
fered on until the 29th of November last, when the 
spirit refused to remain longer in the clay tenement, 
but went out, leaving only the casket to remind us of 
his long and useful life-work in the evangelical field 
in Nebraska. Farewell, dear brother, until we meet 
in the better land, in that glorious reunion of happy 
and redeemed spirits, a reunion that will never be 
broken up, no, never j never, NEVER. 

I shall always revere and love his memory, and say 
all honor to the remembranceof this heroic. Christian 
soldier. And may God's richest blessings remain 
with his dear companion, who stood by him so nobly 
all through his life-work. And may the example of 
his grand life have a happy and salutary eifect on his 
children and bring them all to the haven of eternal 
repose, there to dwell with him in thejoys of Heaven 
for ever and ever. Amen. 



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